The Automotive Industry Action Group ( AIAG, www.aiag.org ), Southfield, Mich., and Michigan Biosciences Industry Association (MichBio, www.michbio.org), Ann Arbor, Mich., are joining forces to assist Michigan’s traditional automotive manufacturing base diversify into medical device manufacturing. The two organizations announced a collaborative partnership on Aug. 4 that brings AIAG’s quality expertise in automotive manufacturing together with MichBio’s medical device and bioscience industry know-how.

In recent months, considerable effort has been made by the state of Michigan to assist manufacturers that are looking to shore up business lost from the automotive industry and diversify into the exploding medical devices market. While the automotive market has been on a decline, the medical device industry is seeing growth due to an aging demographic, increased awareness and expectations for medical care from patients, and advances in medical technologies.

While synergies exist in automotive and medical device manufacturing, retooling by automotive suppliers will be required. However, medical device manufacturing is a complementary vertical for suppliers that have mastered strict quality certification systems in the automotive industry that can be readily transition into other manufacturing industries.
“We are committed to providing our member organizations with the tools and resources they need to manage the economic recovery. Given the current financial condition of the automotive industry, it is imperative that we collaborate with organizations like MichBio to help our members diversify as well as take best practices for quality improvement and apply them in other industries” said J. Scot Sharland, AIAG executive director.

Members of both organizations will benefit from shared tools and resources, bringing together the best of both manufacturing industries.  Through this cooperative relationship, AIAG and MichBio have agreed to pursue areas of collaboration where appropriate, share information on initiatives and projects where there is common interest, exchange membership information as well as member discounts for publications, training and events, and work collaboratively on the manufacturing track at MichBio’s Expo and Conference.  

Automotive Industry Action Group
www.aiag.org

Michigan Biosciences Industry Association
www.michbio.org

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