What shops here make and for whom
Southeast Michigan suppliers sell to a small number of very large buyers who run engineering, purchasing and quality locally. Parts are launched through a program timeline, validated through PPAP, then shipped against weekly or daily EDI releases for years. A tier 2 stamper may sell to three tier 1 customers who each resell the assembly to an OEM.
Tooling is the other half of the picture. Tool and die and mold shops are paid per tool, often with milestone billing, and carry long project schedules with engineering changes. Their cost data looks more like a project business than a repetitive production business.
Quoting and estimating realities
Automotive quotes are built from a bill of process, material price with an index or resin surcharge, cycle time, scrap, tooling amortization and annual volume. Buyers expect annual price-downs in many agreements, so the quote must hold up across the life of the program rather than just at launch.
Tool quotes are different. They depend on die size, number of stations, steel grade, hours of design, CNC, EDM and tryout, and the risk of customer design changes. Estimators lean heavily on past tool costs, which usually sit in spreadsheets or an old job-costing system that nobody trusts fully.
- Keep material, labor and overhead rates in one place so a quote can be rebuilt later
- Record the actual hours of finished tools against the estimate to calibrate the next one
- Track customer engineering changes separately so they can be billed
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Automotive Core Tools and CQI Guidelines Reference
A searchable lookup of the AIAG core tools, CQI special process assessments and common VDA guides used by tier 1 and tier 2 automotive suppliers.
ERP and systems commonly seen
Larger suppliers often run SAP or Infor systems such as Infor CloudSuite Industrial (SyteLine), Plex, Epicor Kinetic or DELMIAworks, with MES and quality software alongside. Smaller tool shops and tier 3 firms more often use JobBOSS, E2 Shop System, Global Shop Solutions or a mix of spreadsheets and CAM software.
The common pain points are EDI mapping, lot traceability back to the heat or resin lot, tool project costing, and getting PPAP documents and control plans connected to the part number and revision in the ERP. These are data-linking problems more than software-choice problems.
Compliance and data handling
OEMs treat drawings, tooling data and program schedules as confidential, and many have supplier security expectations. Some shops also touch defense ground vehicle work, where ITAR and DFARS clauses apply to the technical data. Sending that data to a public AI service is usually not allowed by contract or policy.
A private, on-prem model that reads your ERP and document share keeps data inside your network. The customer, not the vendor, decides who may query which records, and write actions can require human approval.
Where private AI helps and where it does not
Useful early use cases are asking the ERP for open orders, late releases, scrap by part and job, tool project status, and finding past quotes for similar parts. Another is searching PPAP packages, control plans and customer requirement documents in plain language.
It does not replace a sound routing, a correct bill of materials or disciplined EDI handling. If part and revision data is unreliable, fix that first. For a single-site shop whose ERP vendor already ships a good built-in assistant, that may be enough.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the major automotive suppliers in Michigan?
Southeast Michigan has many tier 1 suppliers, plus thousands of smaller tier 2 and tier 3 firms. Rather than rely on a short list, use public sources such as industry association directories, OEM supplier pages and state economic development resources to identify suppliers for a specific commodity.
What certification do Michigan automotive suppliers need?
Most production suppliers to vehicle makers are expected to hold IATF 16949 certification, and each OEM adds customer-specific requirements. Tool and die shops are often held to the PPAP and APQP expectations of the parts customer they build for, even if they are not certified themselves.
What ERP do automotive tier suppliers use?
There is no single answer. Larger suppliers commonly use SAP, Infor, Plex or Epicor, while tool shops and smaller firms often use JobBOSS, E2 or Global Shop Solutions. The key capabilities are EDI, lot traceability, standard and actual costing, and quality records tied to part revisions.
How do tool and die shops cost a job?
Most price each tool from design hours, steel and purchased components, machining, EDM and grinding hours, tryout time and a contingency for changes. Good shops compare each estimate to actual hours on finished tools, which requires job costing that captures time by operation and by tool.