May 24, 2023 • 30 mins
How has the global pandemic shaken the automotive supply chain? Join us with our guest, Dr. Robert Hanfield, as we dive headfirst into the factors that have impacted automobile production, from stay-at-home orders to port bottlenecks and material shortages. Learn how the Big Three are monitoring their supply chains to stay ahead of potential vulnerabilities and why just-in-time production has been particularly challenging in this industry.
We also acknowledge the toilet paper shortage and hoarding behavior during the pandemic and discuss the struggles small dealerships across the US face in regarding infrastructure and training to sell electric vehicles.
Join us for this insightful and timely conversation on the current state of the automotive supply chain and the challenges faced by the industry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute
mini version of the In WheelTime Car Show that airs live
every Saturday morning 8 to 11amcentral.
It's the In Wheel Time Car TalkShow coming up.
Dr Robert Hanfield on thesupply chain outlook when it
comes to automobiles.
Later we'll have the storiesmaking automotive news headlines
(00:23):
this week, along with some ofthe little goodies and tidbits
here and there about auto world.
Howdy, along with Mike out ofthis world, mars King, conrad
DeLong.
we need more, jeff Zekin.
I'm Don Armstrong, glad youcould join us on this Saturday
And, speaking of joining us,he's joining us right now.
is Dr Robert Hanfield?
Are you a professor at NorthCarolina State?
(00:46):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Go Wolfpack.
And what Go Wolfpack?
Go Wolfpack, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, we're right there with you And I understand.
Also, are you a member of theInstitute for Operations,
research and Management Sciences.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yes sir, i am as well .
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Which is an acronym for that is Informs.
And I say all of this because Iwanted to know a little bit
more about you and thecredentials that you bring with
you, because you study supplyand demand and supply shortages
in the automobile industry.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's correct.
Yeah, I've studied supplychains which are suppliers and
buyers, and sellers anddistributors.
I've studied those for 33 yearsAnd I can tell you I've had
more media hits in the lastthree years than I have in my
entire career.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I will tell you that I never even thought about
supply chains until thepandemic hit and all of a sudden
everybody's going well, wait,where are my computer chips?
We are having computer chips,toilet paper, stupid things,
that what is going on?
So let's focus our attention,if you don't mind, into the
(02:10):
automobile business and thesupply chains.
And you know, I don't reallykind of understand why we have a
supply chain issue.
Because why?
Because people couldn't get towork to make the microchips.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, in short, it's a bunch of different things that
happened all at once And for areally long time.
Automotive supply chains havein fact been very fragile And
we've outsourced a lot of theproduction to places like China
and India and overseas.
(02:47):
And what happened is, first ofall, during COVID, you had to
stay at home orders, so everyonehad to stay at home, so people
who were working in factoriesdidn't go in, and so production
was shut down.
Number two the ports became logjammed, especially the port of
(03:07):
LA, which gets about 30% of allimports into the US comes
through Los Angeles, and thatport was with bottlenecked and
they couldn't get things through.
And then the third element, ofcourse, were the material
shortages.
There just wasn't enoughmaterial to produce these items,
(03:29):
and semiconductor chips are oneof those, and people forget.
You only need one part to notshow up and you can't ship that
entire vehicle.
It only takes one part to shutdown production of a vehicle.
If you don't have it, you can'tship the final vehicle.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, as a matter of fact to that end, i mean Ford
Motor Company there's a perfectexample.
They would build the car andthen stick it on a lot until the
next part that they neededmicrochip came in, and they had
cars scattered throughoutDetroit that were ready to go,
except for that one little ittybitty thing.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And then the other thing, ofcourse, was labor shortages.
You know, during COVID a lot ofpeople retired and so a lot of
factories had, and distributorshad problems getting people to
come in to work.
So they were massive laborshortages And you put all of
that together and there were alot of problems within the
(04:29):
automotive supply chain.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
That's how we stand today.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, things have gotten a lot better, and one
reason for that is the big threeand other automobile companies
have figured out that they needto start monitoring what's
happening in their supply chain,and in the past, they relied
primarily on what they calltheir tier one suppliers, the
(04:53):
companies like Lear Seating,johnson Controls, magna, some of
those big tier one suppliers Sowell, you guys handle
everything below that.
Well, they realized thatsometimes these tier one
suppliers weren't monitoringwhat was happening in upstream
in the supply chain and whatthey call their tier two
(05:14):
suppliers the suppliers to thesuppliers And so companies like
GM and I interviewed a guy fromGM and he said look, we're
tracking and mapping out who isin these supply chains And we're
talking to these suppliers andwe're figuring out wow, we've
got some big vulnerabilities andwe need to get second sources,
(05:38):
we need to get additionalsuppliers as a backup, because
perhaps we're relying on oneparticular supplier for all of
these components and we didn'teven realize it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I will tell you that people ask because I've
been doing this talk, show stuffnow for quite some time and I
will tell you when.
It automotive anyway, and Iwill tell you that most people
really don't understand how acar is built.
They think that the carmanufacturers make the parts.
(06:10):
No, they don't anymore.
I think at one time that theydid early on.
They did, but they don'tanymore, and they are basically
assemblers of automobiles andthey buy parts from all over the
world Compoundetry comes in ona train and it gets plugged in
play Well just in time has beenpart of the issue, because when
something doesn't show up intime, just park it out back.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah Well, or either that, or just shut down the
entire assembly line.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Which they don't want to do.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Correct.
Well, because for one littlemeasly part they can run it back
through there and fix that partor send it on to the dealer and
let the dealer install it.
I mean there's so many layersto all of this.
Well, what has changed since?
well, let's just say in thepast year, what's changed?
because now we're starting tosee cars come back on car lots
(07:00):
again new cars and the used carmarket is changing rapidly right
now.
A lot of big changes going on.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, i think we're in a much better place than we
were, say, even last year.
You'll notice there is a lotmore inventory on the lots.
If you want a special ordervehicle that isn't in red, white
or black, you might have towait a little longer for it.
If you want a specific color,if you want a specific custom
(07:31):
package vehicle, you might haveto wait a little longer.
But other than that, theinventory is pretty good.
And what happened is ourcompanies figured it out.
They've started ordering morechips in advance.
They have long lead times onthese chips.
They buy them in advance, theyput them in inventory.
They're relying less on thatjust in time system, which means
(07:54):
they're carrying more inventoryof parts and components and
they're requiring theirsuppliers to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Why is it that this is just my belief?
I don't have the figures, youdo.
You know, throughout all ofthis, tesla has never stopped
making cars.
To my knowledge, they've alwaysmade cars.
They weren't really affectedlike the big three have been.
So how did they avoid this?
Because they don't make as manycars.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, they don't make as many cars.
But the other thing is theywere pretty smart.
You know, love them or hatethem.
You know their CEO is a smartguy and he's an engineer, and
one of the things they did isthey redesigned their vehicles
so they weren't reliant on thesame chips that were in short
(08:41):
supply during 2021-2022.
So they were able to continueto build vehicles using
different chips that were moreplentiful than the ones that
were in short supply And thechip market.
I could go on and on aboutsemiconductor chips, but a chip
is not a chip And, believe it ornot, most of the chip
(09:02):
manufacturing that's going on inthe world is for the smaller
chips.
Most of the automotive sectoruses the larger standardized
chips, and capacity of those isthe ones that's causing problems
.
So you know it's every supplychain has their own issues and
you have to understand those andyou have to dig in and figure
(09:23):
it out, and I think that's whatTesla did.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
But also supply chain issues can erupt from
unfriendly governments wantingto impact the economy of the
United States, and I thinkthat's been a part of it.
The world right?
What's going on with China?
They were overly dependent Andtell me if I'm wrong overly
dependent on China for componentproducts that weren't coming
(09:47):
out of China, be it because oftheir COVID restrictions there
in China or, my personal opinion, is their desire to destroy the
US economy.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Well, no, you're exactly right.
China shut down their bordersduring COVID and have continued
to restrict components.
One of the things my personalpet peeve is around electric
vehicles.
If you look at the seven, whatthey call the green metals
nickel, cobalt, silver, lithiumChina has essentially cornered
(10:21):
all of the mining for all ofthose materials, and they've
also cornered all of therefining processes.
So people are saying, well,we're going to move to 40% EVs
by 2030.
Ain't, no way that's going tohappen because China is going to
control all of those resourcesfor EVs, and so I think we're
(10:42):
headed into a difficult periodwhere I don't think we're going
to grow the EV market to theextent possible.
I think I'm going to keep mycombustion engine for some time
here.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, we don't have to worry about China destroying
the US economy, or politicianswill Okay.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Well there's that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The other thing is is that I've read that there are
several battery manufacturingplants massive, massive plants
that are in process of beingbuilt today.
But even building today doesn'tmean that they're going to turn
out batteries here in theUnited States anytime soon.
They got to get all of theequipment to do that And the raw
(11:25):
material Once the building isbuilt.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Well, that's absolutely right, and it takes a
huge amount of equipment tobuild those.
The mines that we have todayare not capable of producing the
level of minerals that arerequired to build that level of
EV battery.
On top of that, if you looklike at Cobalt, there's a book
that's out Cobalt Red.
(11:49):
That describes the workingconditions in those mines in the
Congo, which is 40% of theworld's Cobalt.
It's horrific.
It's child labor, workersgetting injured and it's all run
by the Chinese.
So you know, i think there'ssome real problems with the EV
supply chain that people are notaware of.
(12:10):
And you know new mines.
It takes 20 years to build amine.
Who's going to invest in aninvestment That is not going to
pay out for 20 years?
So it's.
There's some real problems inthe infrastructure, these
electric vehicles.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Particularly the way technology is changing.
You know, 20 years from now,what we know just is useless
possibly.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You're in education, So tell me what is the education
process like when it comes tosupply chain, You teach the
methods that go into all of this.
So these kids that aregraduating from North Carolina
State, what are they learning?
What degree do they have?
Where are they going once theygraduate?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
How can they help?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, well, you know, we have a unique program at NC
State.
We have something called theSupply Chain Resource
Cooperative And we partner withcompanies.
And then what we'll do is we'llhave undergraduate and MBA
students and we'll plop theminto the middle of a company
problem.
So the company will say, hey,we don't have enough of this
kind of material, or you know,we're having quality problems,
(13:22):
or what have you.
And we'll have the studentswork over 15 weeks with that
company And you know, they learnhow to collaborate, they learn
how to call a meeting, theylearn how to work with data,
they learn how to solve problems.
And I think that's what we needin supply chain is problem
solvers, people who can dealwith real world problems and be
(13:43):
creative in trying to figure outhow to solve those problems.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I find it fascinating , You, you, what a great job,
What a wonderful thing.
I mean.
I'm just going to say I meanyou place these kids in major
corporations and they figure outthings where the problems lie
within the company, to figure itout and make suggestions to.
what are you laughing at?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Because some of the problems are senior management
in these corporations.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Well, there's that That stuck in there, stuck in
the old school, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, No, we put them .
we put them in the thick ofthings.
And you know, I'll tell you,some of these kids are so
creative because they're lookingat it differently.
You know, they're not like oldfarts like you and me.
They're looking at it from awhole new perspective And
sometimes they come up with somereally creative insights.
And that's what we need Ouryoung people trying to solve
(14:34):
these problems that we're having.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They don't have, they can't do.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
They don't have the bad habits of experience Exactly
.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Exactly Right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So what kind of degrees are these?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
students graduating with.
Most of them get a bachelor ofscience.
We also have a number ofindustrial engineering students
that come over and take us ourclasses, and then we also have
an MBA in supply chain.
So it's, we're in a businessschool and we're teaching
business, but we give them a lotof tools on how to deal with a
(15:06):
lot of data, how to structureproblems, how to map out
business processes, how to, youknow, explore supply chains and
understand the intricacies ofwhat's going on in these supply
chains.
If you don't understand it, youcan't solve the problem.
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What kind of, what quality of students are you
getting these days?
Do you find that things areprogressing along really quickly
and and the kids that arecoming out of high schools
around the United States comingto your school, are they
educated to the point where youcan teach them and they're
readily available and they cangraduate in four or five years?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, they do.
We have a lot of kids who comein and they've never even heard
of supply chain management.
They don't know what it is orhow it works.
The first time they're exposedto it they say, kind of a light
goes on and they say, hey, thisis fun, this is interesting.
I want to work in this area And, if you can believe it, the
number of positions forgraduating supply chain majors
(16:10):
has doubled in the last year.
So more and more companiesrealize they need these type of
kids, young men and women, tocome in, and we're, you know, we
love having, we're reallypromoting it for young women too
.
This is not just a, you know, amen's engineering position,
because a lot of times the youngwomen are much more creative
(16:31):
than the guys are, believe it ornot.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Okay, I've got to ask a question before we let you go
, and would you please explainto everybody what in the hell is
going on with toilet paper.
What is that about?
What, what, what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Who created that problem?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
He didn't ask about baby formula.
He's asking about toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
You know we we did.
We never had a problem withcapacity of toilet paper.
Almost all the toilet paper ismade in the US is actually
produced in the US.
We had what was called hoardingbehavior, and hoarding occurs
when there's a perceivedscarcity, and that's what
happens.
Everybody went out and startedclearing out the shelves and
(17:17):
storing it in their garage, andI you know what I am guilty of
the same thing.
My wife went crazy on toiletpaper.
You just worked through ourgarage inventory of toilet paper
last week.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Some place in Oklahoma there is a big garage.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
There is a big garage full of toilet paper, vintage,
vintage.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
No kidding Well barn, barn fine toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You know that that's going to happen while there's
some toilet paper in there,martha, from 1955.
What do you know what happened?
Smells like corn cob.
Well, doc, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
It has been a real what is it?
Yeah, and a real pleasure totalk to you Very enlightening.
Go Wolfpack, yeah, wolfpack,yeah, wipe them up out there.
(18:07):
Okay, thanks again.
We appreciate you.
All right, robert Hanfield.
And what, what a greatinterview.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Exactly.
All right, don't pull medifferent.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Well it's.
It's good to see that there arepeople learning how to deal
with this being placed intocorporations, as opposed to the
the guy in the order desk thathas no clue what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Nobody ever thought of it.
Have you ever thought about itbefore, before this?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
A little bit, but not at this level.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
No, not realizing that you know you can't get
stuff, you're back in somecollege classes You had to deal
with some of that stuff, but itwas basically around the just in
time ideas and stuff.
But everything has been soreadily available.
You walk into Walmart orwherever and you get what you
want Right.
And then once, like you said,for a lot of reasons there,
that's where I've seen you.
I'm the people of Walmart.
(19:05):
Thank you.
Yeah, i'm the guy in the blueshirt, that's it.
But you know, it's just.
Stuff is so readily available,and the hot pants, and now you.
There is more stuff out there,but some of it's post dated, i
mean it's already hit anexpiration date.
It's still sitting on the shelf, but the toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
There's a perfect example.
You got it used by date on themnow.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Does it?
No, do not buy the reusable.
The recycle The reusable.
Don't buy that.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Well, we've lost control again.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Just a little later in the day.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Here's.
Here's an example.
Who would have ever thunk in amillion years The Seuss gets a
diet of dry dog food and a bigdollop of pumpkin.
Now, not pumpkin pie filling,just pumpkin.
Okay, out of a can.
During the pandemic, thepumpkin, the regular plane, not
(20:06):
the filling, now just theregular pumpkin in a can.
They run out all the timeThey'd run out.
Now, wait a minute.
You mean to tell me that therearen't pumpkins somewhere being
grown and they grind them up andput them in the can?
No, people were staying at homeand making pumpkin pies And
they put their own sugar in itand whatever else goes in the
(20:28):
pumpkin pie filling.
Go up to Hempstead and buy thepumpkin Whatever.
No, i don't buy it.
No, it's processed pumpkin,it's not the whole damn pumpkin.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Yeah, i see your point.
It's part of the recipe thatshe has for her lifestyle Right,
and even the dog was affectedby it.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yes, the dog was affected by it.
All right Time now for some ofthe stories making automotive
news headlines this week.
Ready Mm-hmm.
Electric vehicles are stilltough to fight at most US
dealerships, according to asurvey by the Sierra Club.
The group said 66% of thosesurveyed didn't have any EVs in
(21:06):
stock Of those stores.
44% say they would sell EVs ifthey could get them, but 45%
said they would not sell EVs nomatter what.
Wow, because they're beingforced to put in infrastructure
(21:26):
into the dealership Hundreds ofthousands of dollars If not a
million dollars And the traininginvolved on top of that, right
Yeah.
They said no, we're not doing it, And I don't blame.
I mean, if you've just thinkabout it, There are a lot more
small dealerships across theUnited.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
States, oh yeah.
There are these ginormous megastores in the area.
There's a lot less of them thanthere used to be, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
And we have mega stores here in Houston compared
to there.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
You still have some of the mom and pop shops.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yes, They're further on the outskirts, though.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, or you know in Elgin Texas or whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, you got Ryan out there on the I-10 going west
.
Ryan Ford dealership Ford.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, speaking of dealerships Lesley, dogget,
industries, dogget AutomotiveGroup They used to be on 45.
Three dealerships from CraigKinsel and Joe Bob Kinsel of
Kinsel Motors and the Kinselfamily.
They're a family.
in a transaction this month TheHouston Auto Group acquired
Kinsel Toyota, Kinsel FordLincoln and Kinsel Mazda.
The dealerships were renamedDogget Toyota of Beaumont,
(22:31):
Dogget Ford Lincoln of Beaumontand Dogget Mazda of Beaumont.
Yeah, it's family owned for 60something years A huge
industrial machinery, earthmovers and stuff up on 45 of the
North Freeway.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
What do you got?
And they.
Their Ford store is whereLandmark Chevrolet used to be.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Well, what was the Ford store's name before that,
before they moved?
I can't remember that Before itwas Dogget there was another
Ford dealer up there?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I can't remember.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
I don't remember.
I was going to say Lone Star,but I don't think so.
Was it Lone Star?
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The company in 2018, bought its first auto retail
dealership, the former Lone StarFord in Houston.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
There, you go.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
That's it, Previously owned by.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Jeff, could see what you're thinking.
Previously owned by SonicAutomotive, it also is a long
time Toyota material handlingdealer.
The company said So Forklifts.
Forklifts and front end loadersand stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Industrial commercial And they've got a monster
operation up on 45 just north ofthe Shepherd Curve.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, is that the Shepherd?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Curve.
It's on the corner, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, the Shepherd Curve You know, The Canine.
No, come on, you gotta do betterthan that.
Average age of vehicles in thein use in the United States has
continued to increase for asixth straight year.
Average age of cars and lighttrucks in the US is now 12 and a
half years, more than threemonths over the 2022 average,
(24:01):
according to an S&P GlobalMobility Report released Monday.
It is the largest yearlyincrease in the average age of
the US fleet since 2008.
For now, older vehicles on theroad are boosting the US vehicle
service industry.
S&p Global Channel forecastestimates the revenues of the US
light duty aftermarket grew byabout 8.5% in 2022 and may grow
(24:26):
by 5% or more in 2023.
I believe it, yeah, so keepingthe car running Gotta do it.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Keep in the car.
Can't afford to trade it in.
Don't wanna buy an EV, yeah, soI'm gonna keep my old car, my
gas burner.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
If you treat it right , there's no reason for it not
to last.
True, true.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
All the maintenance, keep it maintained Maintenance.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Matter of fact, i think I'm going to get the
Corvette brake fluid changedagain, because you know I had it
done a year and a half ago.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Should be every two or three years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Because it's already turning black again.
Yeah, and it's like what.
I just had that change, so Ithink I'm gonna do that again.
this year.
A woman has been charged withfelony embezzlement for
allegedly stealing about aquarter of a million dollars
from a Toyota dealership.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Again.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
When it was in Louisville or Louisville, I'm
not sure.
Mississippi local radio stationWTOK reported Louisville is in
the Eastern Mississippi areanortheast of Jackson.
Leticia Jones Smith, 50.
, Was formerly the Comptrollerfor Docks Toyota.
according to WTOK, She had beenlet go by Docks Toyota on
(25:42):
January 5th for mattersunrelated to the charges.
according to the station, Thestore had been auditing its
books in the intervening months.
Smith is also facing additionalcharges of felony embezzlement
in Neshoba County, Mississippi,where Docks Toyota is now
located.
She's accused of stealing about$71,000 there.
Okay.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Well, when all that money flows through the hands of
one person and nobody's payingattention?
No checks and balances.
Yeah Well, lots of checks.
No, just no balance No balance.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
No balances And, by the way you know, this past week
the Toyota Tacoma the new,redesigned Toyota Tacoma, with
the possible exception of theRAV4 compact crossover and no
nameplate in Toyota's US lineupis more important to the brand
than the Tacoma midsize pickup,not just because of sales, but
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(26:34):
with less of a strangleholdthan it had before.
But the new, redesigned 2024Tacoma fights off other midsize
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Speaker 4 (26:47):
So go to Toyotacom and take a look at it.
And is that going to be builtin San Antonio as well?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, Yes, it is So by Texan, by Texan, yep.
Hey, that's it for this hour ofthe In-Wheel Time Card Talk
Show.
We continue with hour numberthree right after this.
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(27:11):
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Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute
mini version of the In WheelTime Car Show that airs live
every Saturday morning 8 to 11amcentral.
It's the In Wheel Time Car TalkShow coming up.
Dr Robert Hanfield on thesupply chain outlook when it
comes to automobiles.
Later we'll have the storiesmaking automotive news headlines
(00:23):
this week, along with some ofthe little goodies and tidbits
here and there about auto world.
Howdy, along with Mike out ofthis world, mars King, conrad
DeLong.
we need more, jeff Zekin.
I'm Don Armstrong, glad youcould join us on this Saturday
And, speaking of joining us,he's joining us right now.
is Dr Robert Hanfield?
Are you a professor at NorthCarolina State?
(00:46):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Go Wolfpack.
And what Go Wolfpack?
Go Wolfpack, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, we're right there with you And I understand.
Also, are you a member of theInstitute for Operations,
research and Management Sciences.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yes sir, i am as well .
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Which is an acronym for that is Informs.
And I say all of this because Iwanted to know a little bit
more about you and thecredentials that you bring with
you, because you study supplyand demand and supply shortages
in the automobile industry.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's correct.
Yeah, I've studied supplychains which are suppliers and
buyers, and sellers anddistributors.
I've studied those for 33 yearsAnd I can tell you I've had
more media hits in the lastthree years than I have in my
entire career.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I will tell you that I never even thought about
supply chains until thepandemic hit and all of a sudden
everybody's going well, wait,where are my computer chips?
We are having computer chips,toilet paper, stupid things,
that what is going on?
So let's focus our attention,if you don't mind, into the
(02:10):
automobile business and thesupply chains.
And you know, I don't reallykind of understand why we have a
supply chain issue.
Because why?
Because people couldn't get towork to make the microchips.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, in short, it's a bunch of different things that
happened all at once And for areally long time.
Automotive supply chains havein fact been very fragile And
we've outsourced a lot of theproduction to places like China
and India and overseas.
(02:47):
And what happened is, first ofall, during COVID, you had to
stay at home orders, so everyonehad to stay at home, so people
who were working in factoriesdidn't go in, and so production
was shut down.
Number two the ports became logjammed, especially the port of
(03:07):
LA, which gets about 30% of allimports into the US comes
through Los Angeles, and thatport was with bottlenecked and
they couldn't get things through.
And then the third element, ofcourse, were the material
shortages.
There just wasn't enoughmaterial to produce these items,
(03:29):
and semiconductor chips are oneof those, and people forget.
You only need one part to notshow up and you can't ship that
entire vehicle.
It only takes one part to shutdown production of a vehicle.
If you don't have it, you can'tship the final vehicle.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, as a matter of fact to that end, i mean Ford
Motor Company there's a perfectexample.
They would build the car andthen stick it on a lot until the
next part that they neededmicrochip came in, and they had
cars scattered throughoutDetroit that were ready to go,
except for that one little ittybitty thing.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
And then the other thing, ofcourse, was labor shortages.
You know, during COVID a lot ofpeople retired and so a lot of
factories had, and distributorshad problems getting people to
come in to work.
So they were massive laborshortages And you put all of
that together and there were alot of problems within the
(04:29):
automotive supply chain.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
That's how we stand today.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, things have gotten a lot better, and one
reason for that is the big threeand other automobile companies
have figured out that they needto start monitoring what's
happening in their supply chain,and in the past, they relied
primarily on what they calltheir tier one suppliers, the
(04:53):
companies like Lear Seating,johnson Controls, magna, some of
those big tier one suppliers Sowell, you guys handle
everything below that.
Well, they realized thatsometimes these tier one
suppliers weren't monitoringwhat was happening in upstream
in the supply chain and whatthey call their tier two
(05:14):
suppliers the suppliers to thesuppliers And so companies like
GM and I interviewed a guy fromGM and he said look, we're
tracking and mapping out who isin these supply chains And we're
talking to these suppliers andwe're figuring out wow, we've
got some big vulnerabilities andwe need to get second sources,
(05:38):
we need to get additionalsuppliers as a backup, because
perhaps we're relying on oneparticular supplier for all of
these components and we didn'teven realize it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I will tell you that people ask because I've
been doing this talk, show stuffnow for quite some time and I
will tell you when.
It automotive anyway, and Iwill tell you that most people
really don't understand how acar is built.
They think that the carmanufacturers make the parts.
(06:10):
No, they don't anymore.
I think at one time that theydid early on.
They did, but they don'tanymore, and they are basically
assemblers of automobiles andthey buy parts from all over the
world Compoundetry comes in ona train and it gets plugged in
play Well just in time has beenpart of the issue, because when
something doesn't show up intime, just park it out back.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah Well, or either that, or just shut down the
entire assembly line.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Which they don't want to do.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Correct.
Well, because for one littlemeasly part they can run it back
through there and fix that partor send it on to the dealer and
let the dealer install it.
I mean there's so many layersto all of this.
Well, what has changed since?
well, let's just say in thepast year, what's changed?
because now we're starting tosee cars come back on car lots
(07:00):
again new cars and the used carmarket is changing rapidly right
now.
A lot of big changes going on.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, i think we're in a much better place than we
were, say, even last year.
You'll notice there is a lotmore inventory on the lots.
If you want a special ordervehicle that isn't in red, white
or black, you might have towait a little longer for it.
If you want a specific color,if you want a specific custom
(07:31):
package vehicle, you might haveto wait a little longer.
But other than that, theinventory is pretty good.
And what happened is ourcompanies figured it out.
They've started ordering morechips in advance.
They have long lead times onthese chips.
They buy them in advance, theyput them in inventory.
They're relying less on thatjust in time system, which means
(07:54):
they're carrying more inventoryof parts and components and
they're requiring theirsuppliers to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Why is it that this is just my belief?
I don't have the figures, youdo.
You know, throughout all ofthis, tesla has never stopped
making cars.
To my knowledge, they've alwaysmade cars.
They weren't really affectedlike the big three have been.
So how did they avoid this?
Because they don't make as manycars.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, they don't make as many cars.
But the other thing is theywere pretty smart.
You know, love them or hatethem.
You know their CEO is a smartguy and he's an engineer, and
one of the things they did isthey redesigned their vehicles
so they weren't reliant on thesame chips that were in short
(08:41):
supply during 2021-2022.
So they were able to continueto build vehicles using
different chips that were moreplentiful than the ones that
were in short supply And thechip market.
I could go on and on aboutsemiconductor chips, but a chip
is not a chip And, believe it ornot, most of the chip
(09:02):
manufacturing that's going on inthe world is for the smaller
chips.
Most of the automotive sectoruses the larger standardized
chips, and capacity of those isthe ones that's causing problems
.
So you know it's every supplychain has their own issues and
you have to understand those andyou have to dig in and figure
(09:23):
it out, and I think that's whatTesla did.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
But also supply chain issues can erupt from
unfriendly governments wantingto impact the economy of the
United States, and I thinkthat's been a part of it.
The world right?
What's going on with China?
They were overly dependent Andtell me if I'm wrong overly
dependent on China for componentproducts that weren't coming
(09:47):
out of China, be it because oftheir COVID restrictions there
in China or, my personal opinion, is their desire to destroy the
US economy.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Well, no, you're exactly right.
China shut down their bordersduring COVID and have continued
to restrict components.
One of the things my personalpet peeve is around electric
vehicles.
If you look at the seven, whatthey call the green metals
nickel, cobalt, silver, lithiumChina has essentially cornered
(10:21):
all of the mining for all ofthose materials, and they've
also cornered all of therefining processes.
So people are saying, well,we're going to move to 40% EVs
by 2030.
Ain't, no way that's going tohappen because China is going to
control all of those resourcesfor EVs, and so I think we're
(10:42):
headed into a difficult periodwhere I don't think we're going
to grow the EV market to theextent possible.
I think I'm going to keep mycombustion engine for some time
here.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, we don't have to worry about China destroying
the US economy, or politicianswill Okay.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Well there's that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The other thing is is that I've read that there are
several battery manufacturingplants massive, massive plants
that are in process of beingbuilt today.
But even building today doesn'tmean that they're going to turn
out batteries here in theUnited States anytime soon.
They got to get all of theequipment to do that And the raw
(11:25):
material Once the building isbuilt.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Well, that's absolutely right, and it takes a
huge amount of equipment tobuild those.
The mines that we have todayare not capable of producing the
level of minerals that arerequired to build that level of
EV battery.
On top of that, if you looklike at Cobalt, there's a book
that's out Cobalt Red.
(11:49):
That describes the workingconditions in those mines in the
Congo, which is 40% of theworld's Cobalt.
It's horrific.
It's child labor, workersgetting injured and it's all run
by the Chinese.
So you know, i think there'ssome real problems with the EV
supply chain that people are notaware of.
(12:10):
And you know new mines.
It takes 20 years to build amine.
Who's going to invest in aninvestment That is not going to
pay out for 20 years?
So it's.
There's some real problems inthe infrastructure, these
electric vehicles.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Particularly the way technology is changing.
You know, 20 years from now,what we know just is useless
possibly.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You're in education, So tell me what is the education
process like when it comes tosupply chain, You teach the
methods that go into all of this.
So these kids that aregraduating from North Carolina
State, what are they learning?
What degree do they have?
Where are they going once theygraduate?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
How can they help?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, well, you know, we have a unique program at NC
State.
We have something called theSupply Chain Resource
Cooperative And we partner withcompanies.
And then what we'll do is we'llhave undergraduate and MBA
students and we'll plop theminto the middle of a company
problem.
So the company will say, hey,we don't have enough of this
kind of material, or you know,we're having quality problems,
(13:22):
or what have you.
And we'll have the studentswork over 15 weeks with that
company And you know, they learnhow to collaborate, they learn
how to call a meeting, theylearn how to work with data,
they learn how to solve problems.
And I think that's what we needin supply chain is problem
solvers, people who can dealwith real world problems and be
(13:43):
creative in trying to figure outhow to solve those problems.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I find it fascinating , You, you, what a great job,
What a wonderful thing.
I mean.
I'm just going to say I meanyou place these kids in major
corporations and they figure outthings where the problems lie
within the company, to figure itout and make suggestions to.
what are you laughing at?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Because some of the problems are senior management
in these corporations.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Well, there's that That stuck in there, stuck in
the old school, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, No, we put them .
we put them in the thick ofthings.
And you know, I'll tell you,some of these kids are so
creative because they're lookingat it differently.
You know, they're not like oldfarts like you and me.
They're looking at it from awhole new perspective And
sometimes they come up with somereally creative insights.
And that's what we need Ouryoung people trying to solve
(14:34):
these problems that we're having.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
They don't have, they can't do.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
They don't have the bad habits of experience Exactly
.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Exactly Right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So what kind of degrees are these?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
students graduating with.
Most of them get a bachelor ofscience.
We also have a number ofindustrial engineering students
that come over and take us ourclasses, and then we also have
an MBA in supply chain.
So it's, we're in a businessschool and we're teaching
business, but we give them a lotof tools on how to deal with a
(15:06):
lot of data, how to structureproblems, how to map out
business processes, how to, youknow, explore supply chains and
understand the intricacies ofwhat's going on in these supply
chains.
If you don't understand it, youcan't solve the problem.
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
What kind of, what quality of students are you
getting these days?
Do you find that things areprogressing along really quickly
and and the kids that arecoming out of high schools
around the United States comingto your school, are they
educated to the point where youcan teach them and they're
readily available and they cangraduate in four or five years?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, they do.
We have a lot of kids who comein and they've never even heard
of supply chain management.
They don't know what it is orhow it works.
The first time they're exposedto it they say, kind of a light
goes on and they say, hey, thisis fun, this is interesting.
I want to work in this area And, if you can believe it, the
number of positions forgraduating supply chain majors
(16:10):
has doubled in the last year.
So more and more companiesrealize they need these type of
kids, young men and women, tocome in, and we're, you know, we
love having, we're reallypromoting it for young women too
.
This is not just a, you know, amen's engineering position,
because a lot of times the youngwomen are much more creative
(16:31):
than the guys are, believe it ornot.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Okay, I've got to ask a question before we let you go
, and would you please explainto everybody what in the hell is
going on with toilet paper.
What is that about?
What, what, what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Who created that problem?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
He didn't ask about baby formula.
He's asking about toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
You know we we did.
We never had a problem withcapacity of toilet paper.
Almost all the toilet paper ismade in the US is actually
produced in the US.
We had what was called hoardingbehavior, and hoarding occurs
when there's a perceivedscarcity, and that's what
happens.
Everybody went out and startedclearing out the shelves and
(17:17):
storing it in their garage, andI you know what I am guilty of
the same thing.
My wife went crazy on toiletpaper.
You just worked through ourgarage inventory of toilet paper
last week.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Some place in Oklahoma there is a big garage.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
There is a big garage full of toilet paper, vintage,
vintage.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
No kidding Well barn, barn fine toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You know that that's going to happen while there's
some toilet paper in there,martha, from 1955.
What do you know what happened?
Smells like corn cob.
Well, doc, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
It has been a real what is it?
Yeah, and a real pleasure totalk to you Very enlightening.
Go Wolfpack, yeah, wolfpack,yeah, wipe them up out there.
(18:07):
Okay, thanks again.
We appreciate you.
All right, robert Hanfield.
And what, what a greatinterview.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Exactly.
All right, don't pull medifferent.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Well it's.
It's good to see that there arepeople learning how to deal
with this being placed intocorporations, as opposed to the
the guy in the order desk thathas no clue what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Nobody ever thought of it.
Have you ever thought about itbefore, before this?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
A little bit, but not at this level.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
No, not realizing that you know you can't get
stuff, you're back in somecollege classes You had to deal
with some of that stuff, but itwas basically around the just in
time ideas and stuff.
But everything has been soreadily available.
You walk into Walmart orwherever and you get what you
want Right.
And then once, like you said,for a lot of reasons there,
that's where I've seen you.
I'm the people of Walmart.
(19:05):
Thank you.
Yeah, i'm the guy in the blueshirt, that's it.
But you know, it's just.
Stuff is so readily available,and the hot pants, and now you.
There is more stuff out there,but some of it's post dated, i
mean it's already hit anexpiration date.
It's still sitting on the shelf, but the toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
There's a perfect example.
You got it used by date on themnow.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Does it?
No, do not buy the reusable.
The recycle The reusable.
Don't buy that.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
Well, we've lost control again.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Just a little later in the day.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Here's.
Here's an example.
Who would have ever thunk in amillion years The Seuss gets a
diet of dry dog food and a bigdollop of pumpkin.
Now, not pumpkin pie filling,just pumpkin.
Okay, out of a can.
During the pandemic, thepumpkin, the regular plane, not
(20:06):
the filling, now just theregular pumpkin in a can.
They run out all the timeThey'd run out.
Now, wait a minute.
You mean to tell me that therearen't pumpkins somewhere being
grown and they grind them up andput them in the can?
No, people were staying at homeand making pumpkin pies And
they put their own sugar in itand whatever else goes in the
(20:28):
pumpkin pie filling.
Go up to Hempstead and buy thepumpkin Whatever.
No, i don't buy it.
No, it's processed pumpkin,it's not the whole damn pumpkin.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Yeah, i see your point.
It's part of the recipe thatshe has for her lifestyle Right,
and even the dog was affectedby it.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yes, the dog was affected by it.
All right Time now for some ofthe stories making automotive
news headlines this week.
Ready Mm-hmm.
Electric vehicles are stilltough to fight at most US
dealerships, according to asurvey by the Sierra Club.
The group said 66% of thosesurveyed didn't have any EVs in
(21:06):
stock Of those stores.
44% say they would sell EVs ifthey could get them, but 45%
said they would not sell EVs nomatter what.
Wow, because they're beingforced to put in infrastructure
(21:26):
into the dealership Hundreds ofthousands of dollars If not a
million dollars And the traininginvolved on top of that, right
Yeah.
They said no, we're not doing it, And I don't blame.
I mean, if you've just thinkabout it, There are a lot more
small dealerships across theUnited.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
States, oh yeah.
There are these ginormous megastores in the area.
There's a lot less of them thanthere used to be, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
And we have mega stores here in Houston compared
to there.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
You still have some of the mom and pop shops.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yes, They're further on the outskirts, though.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, or you know in Elgin Texas or whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, you got Ryan out there on the I-10 going west
.
Ryan Ford dealership Ford.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, speaking of dealerships Lesley, dogget,
industries, dogget AutomotiveGroup They used to be on 45.
Three dealerships from CraigKinsel and Joe Bob Kinsel of
Kinsel Motors and the Kinselfamily.
They're a family.
in a transaction this month TheHouston Auto Group acquired
Kinsel Toyota, Kinsel FordLincoln and Kinsel Mazda.
The dealerships were renamedDogget Toyota of Beaumont,
(22:31):
Dogget Ford Lincoln of Beaumontand Dogget Mazda of Beaumont.
Yeah, it's family owned for 60something years A huge
industrial machinery, earthmovers and stuff up on 45 of the
North Freeway.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
What do you got?
And they.
Their Ford store is whereLandmark Chevrolet used to be.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Well, what was the Ford store's name before that,
before they moved?
I can't remember that Before itwas Dogget there was another
Ford dealer up there?
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I can't remember.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
I don't remember.
I was going to say Lone Star,but I don't think so.
Was it Lone Star?
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The company in 2018, bought its first auto retail
dealership, the former Lone StarFord in Houston.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
There, you go.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
That's it, Previously owned by.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Jeff, could see what you're thinking.
Previously owned by SonicAutomotive, it also is a long
time Toyota material handlingdealer.
The company said So Forklifts.
Forklifts and front end loadersand stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Industrial commercial And they've got a monster
operation up on 45 just north ofthe Shepherd Curve.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yes, is that the Shepherd?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Curve.
It's on the corner, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, the Shepherd Curve You know, The Canine.
No, come on, you gotta do betterthan that.
Average age of vehicles in thein use in the United States has
continued to increase for asixth straight year.
Average age of cars and lighttrucks in the US is now 12 and a
half years, more than threemonths over the 2022 average,
(24:01):
according to an S&P GlobalMobility Report released Monday.
It is the largest yearlyincrease in the average age of
the US fleet since 2008.
For now, older vehicles on theroad are boosting the US vehicle
service industry.
S&p Global Channel forecastestimates the revenues of the US
light duty aftermarket grew byabout 8.5% in 2022 and may grow
(24:26):
by 5% or more in 2023.
I believe it, yeah, so keepingthe car running Gotta do it.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Keep in the car.
Can't afford to trade it in.
Don't wanna buy an EV, yeah, soI'm gonna keep my old car, my
gas burner.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
If you treat it right , there's no reason for it not
to last.
True, true.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
All the maintenance, keep it maintained Maintenance.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Matter of fact, i think I'm going to get the
Corvette brake fluid changedagain, because you know I had it
done a year and a half ago.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Should be every two or three years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Because it's already turning black again.
Yeah, and it's like what.
I just had that change, so Ithink I'm gonna do that again.
this year.
A woman has been charged withfelony embezzlement for
allegedly stealing about aquarter of a million dollars
from a Toyota dealership.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Again.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
When it was in Louisville or Louisville, I'm
not sure.
Mississippi local radio stationWTOK reported Louisville is in
the Eastern Mississippi areanortheast of Jackson.
Leticia Jones Smith, 50.
, Was formerly the Comptrollerfor Docks Toyota.
according to WTOK, She had beenlet go by Docks Toyota on
(25:42):
January 5th for mattersunrelated to the charges.
according to the station, Thestore had been auditing its
books in the intervening months.
Smith is also facing additionalcharges of felony embezzlement
in Neshoba County, Mississippi,where Docks Toyota is now
located.
She's accused of stealing about$71,000 there.
Okay.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Well, when all that money flows through the hands of
one person and nobody's payingattention?
No checks and balances.
Yeah Well, lots of checks.
No, just no balance No balance.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
No balances And, by the way you know, this past week
the Toyota Tacoma the new,redesigned Toyota Tacoma, with
the possible exception of theRAV4 compact crossover and no
nameplate in Toyota's US lineupis more important to the brand
than the Tacoma midsize pickup,not just because of sales, but
also the way it continues todominate the competition, albeit
(26:34):
with less of a strangleholdthan it had before.
But the new, redesigned 2024Tacoma fights off other midsize
rivals with hybrids, new trimsand technology.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
So go to Toyotacom and take a look at it.
And is that going to be builtin San Antonio as well?
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, Yes, it is So by Texan, by Texan, yep.
Hey, that's it for this hour ofthe In-Wheel Time Card Talk
Show.
We continue with hour numberthree right after this.
Everyone at the Tailpipes andTacos cruise in at the Lupi
Tortilla Tex-Max in Katie.
Thank you for participating inthe best cruise in around and
look forward to seeing you again.
You'll hear about the nextcruise in date right here on
In-Wheel Time.
(27:11):
Next time you're in the WestHouston Energy Corridor area, be
sure and stop in at theoriginal Lupi Tortilla Tex-Max
at I-10 and Highway 6 or theKatie location on the Grand
Parkway at Kingsland BoulevardWhen passing through Beaumont or
College Station.
Stop in and have Lupi'saward-winning beef fajitas and
frozen margaritas.
There's always a celebration atLupi Tortilla.
Lupi Tortilla founder Stan Holdand his wife Sheila are winning
(27:33):
racers on the NHRA Drag RacingCircuit and have a collection of
hot rods and classics thateveryone appreciates.
Look for them at the nextTailpipes and Tacos cruise in.
The date will be announced soonand will once again be held at
the Lupi Tortilla Tex-Max on 99in Kingsland Boulevard, just
south of I-10 and Katie.
We'll give you all the detailsright here on the In-Wheel Time
Card Talk Show and onlineDonations.
(27:54):
Benefit God's Garage.
We'll see you then.
You own a car you love, but whynot let Gulf Coast Auto Shield
protect it?
Houstonian John Gray invitesyou to his state-of-the-art
facility to introduce you to hisspecialist team of auto
enthusiasts.
We promise you'll be impressed.
Whether you're looking tomassage your original paint to a
like new appearance, apply aceramic coating, install a paint
(28:15):
protection film, nanoceramicwindow tint or new windshield
protection called ExoShield,gulf Coast Auto Shield is where
Houston's car people go.
Curb your wheels.
Instead of buying new, why nothave them repaired?
How about a professionallyinstalled radar detector?
Gulf Coast Auto Shield doesthat too.
Get a peek inside the shop andlook at the services offered by
getting online and heading togcautoshieldcom.
(28:37):
Better yet, stop by theirfacility at 11275 South San
Houston Toulway, just south ofthe Southwest Freeway, and get a
personal tour.
Gulf Coast Auto Shield is yourplace to go for all things
exterior.
Call them today, 832-930-5655or gcautoshieldcom.
The award-winning in-wheel timecar talk show is available on
(28:57):
the most popular podcastchannels out there in 30-minute
episodes.
We realize our three-hour liveshow can be difficult to catch
in its entirety, so now you canlisten every day to a convenient
, fresh 30-minute episode.
Check us out on Apple Podcasts,spotify, google Podcasts,
amazon Music and Audible, alongwith a dozen more.
In-wheel time has the mostinformative automotive guest
(29:17):
interviews and new car reviews,along with popular features
including Conrad's car clinicand this week in auto history,
along with automotive newsheadlines.
Our live broadcast airs everySaturday 8-11 Central on
InwheelTimecom, the iHeart appand on YouTube.
Be sure to say hello when we'rebroadcasting from the tailpipes
and tacos cruise in Auto Ramand the Houston Auto Show, among
(29:38):
others.
Now it's easier than ever tohear about all things automotive
all week long.
You're invited to join fellowcar enthusiasts in becoming part
of the ever-growing InwheelTime car talk family.
Don't forget those 30-minutepodcast episodes on your
favorite podcast channel.
That's it for this podcastepisode of the Inwheel Time Car
Show.
I'm Don Armstrong, inviting youto join us for our live show
(30:00):
every Saturday morning 8-11 AMCentral on Facebook, youtube,
twitch and our InwheelTimecomwebsite.
Us available on Apple Podcast,spotify, stitcher, iheart
Podcast, podcast Addict Tune InPandora and Amazon Music.
Keep listening and we'll seeyou soon.
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