Not on Auto-Pilot

A four-letter word continually comes up when talking about Wolverine Bronze—“auto.” According to Smith, the company has been hit as hard by the softening in the automotive market as anyone. And with close ties to one of the Big 3, it’s possibly feeling it more so.

“We kind of ramped up and had the rug pulled out from under us, so here we are,” Smith said.

Wolverine Bronze’s development facility has now successfully completed a number of projects, including a semi-permanent mold engine cylinder head and a precision sand four-cylinder block, and is looking for new customers. A number of OEMs have expressed interest in getting projects started but are facing delays in light of the current economic conditions.

So, Wolverine Bronze continues to diversify in order to offset the effects of an industry in distress. While the development facility was built with an automotive supplier in mind, it could be put to use by OEMs in a variety of other markets, as close afield as diesel power train and as far afield as space shuttle manufacture, according to Smith.

The development plant also has had the pleasant side effect of improving Wolverine Bronze in other areas.

“It’s a good marriage for learning more about driveline and power train products,” Smith said. “If you’re doing development work, you’re always on the cutting edge of new technology.”

In the meantime, the company is still marketing its low pressure line to customers in markets that can benefit from precision sand low pressure aluminum parts, including high end automotive customers.
And according to Alfred DiMora, DiMora Motorcar’s chief executive officer and founder, the car maker will still be counting on Wolverine Bronze to produce the driveline parts for the Natalia supercar once it obtains the necessary funding to go forward with the project.

“[The metalcasting facility] was designed specifically to manufacture the kinds of complex, thin-walled, aluminum sand castings that we need for the Volcano engine,” DiMora said. “Wolverine is a prime example of the innovation that is reinvigorating the Detroit-based American automobile industry.”

If he’s right, Wolverine Bronze should have no trouble riding out the current downturn. If he’s wrong, the company may have to reinvent itself. But it won’t be the first time. MC