While supporting the Jaguar Land Rover Global Supplier Integration event in February, we took the opportunity to interview four industry experts. Our aim was to understand their main business challenge for 2017 and share with you how they each plan on overcoming that challenge. We also wanted to know what advancing technologies they are planning to invest most in across 2017 and why. In addition, we covered topics such as investment across the automotive industry, innovation and the current climate.
Interview 2: Terry Ward, IT Manager at Magna Holdings International.
Please can you tell us about your role at Magna Holdings International?
I am the IT manager for manga holdings international, which is the UK head office. Manga Holdings International is a tier 1 supplier to JLR and many other automotive suppliers.
Total employee count is 140,000.
My role encompasses engineering as well, not only IT.
What do you see as your biggest business challenge in 2017 and how are you planning to overcome it?
Our biggest business challenge is keeping up with the new requirements from the OEMs and the technology that is moving forward with composites and plastics components for the automotive industry. It’s well renowned that Magna manufacture not only components but complete vehicles as well.
We are quite renowned that we are making the new JLR electric vehicles, which are coming out I believe in 2018.
What advancing technologies do Magna plan to invest most in this year and why?
There’s a lot of technology with 3D printing, which is being used extensively within Magna. And as I said, light weight composites; reducing weight to the vehicles, making them more economical, to comply with legislations throughout the world.