MiMfg Magazine
INDUSTRY
22
May 2020
Member
Spotlight
Jeff Gary
General Manager of Magna
Electronics – Holly Division
Magna
Member since February 2017 • Employs 550 Michigan workers • Learn more at magna.com
Autonomous. It’s the buzzword
for manufacturers all across the
automotive supply chain. Emerging
technologies and never-before-
seen innovations are already
transforming some of Michigan’s
most well-known manufacturers.
At the center of it all is one brand
fully intent on becoming the go-to
source for everything driver-assisted
and autonomous — Magna.
“Magna is helping to define
and create future mobility. Not
just the stuff you’ll be seeing 30
or 50 years from now but the
technologies and innovations
that will influence every step for
how we get there,” said Jeff Gary,
general manager for Magna
Electronics - Holly Division, the
global giant’s new state-of-the-art
facility. “We are creating new
value and new possibilities for
what the vehicle of the future can
do. And it’s not just technology;
the stuff we’re doing today…we
want to reimagine safety, mobility
and the overall driving experience.”
A $50 million 2019 consolidation
of three East Michigan facilities
resulted in a 230,000-square-foot
Holly location set to keep Magna
as an industry leader in vision-based
driver assistance systems. From
advanced driver assistance systems
(ADAS) and advanced robotics to
light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
remote sensors and micro-LED
lighting, Magna continues to
accelerate its production output.
We’re excited about where we
are going — where the whole
industry is going — because we
have the chance to be at the
center of that conversation.
Part of a sector that was growing
even when the rest of manufacturing
stalled, the electronics arm of
Magna saw employment jump
from 100 employees to over 550
today, all while the company
continued to invest.
“Even in the slowdown, there
was a demand for more electronic
content in vehicles and that’s never
really stopped,” explained Gary.
“Technology is at the core of your
Jeff Gary (center) and his assistant general managers,
Steve Allmen and Jessica Kelly, are helping to position
Magna as a global leader in autonomous technology — the
next big game changer for the automotive supply chain.
car — it’s the central component
necessary to get to that autonomous
dream everybody wants. We’re
excited about where we are going —
where the whole industry is going —
because we have the chance to be
at the center of that conversation.”
Gary points to plenty of
challenges along the way, not the
least of which is the constant threat
of low-cost overseas competition,
but he believes fully that Magna
has the secret ingredient to take
on any obstacle.
“It’s the people who make it
all possible — even as a company
focused on leading the way on
technology, we have to say that,”
Gary stated. “We automate for
quality and precision, not to
replace people. We’re investing
in people; we’re investing in the
right people for the right roles
and we’re making that investment
over the long-term. I think that’s
a huge cornerstone of what’s put
us where we are today.”
Another crucial cornerstone is
Magna’s commitment to safety.
Every product is made to make
you safer. Adaptive cruise control.
Lane-keeping assist. Sensors to
check blind spots. But it’s more than
that; safety is part of Magna’s
culture. Gary and his team see the
Magna brand — or any manufac-
turer’s brand — as a signature of
quality and a symbol of the standard
you should want to meet every day.
“We’re a team that operates as
a team because we know we all do
better when the company does
better,” said Gary. “Autonomous
driving, autonomous tech; everything
we do is about evolving and doing
something better tomorrow than
it was done yesterday. It’s so much
fun to work here. You’re not going
to want to miss what we do next.”
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