Paul Eichenberg’s presentation to the Forging Industry Technical Conference last year hit like an Old Testament warning of doom.
His audience was made up of people who synthesize the steel rods, gears, pinions, shafts, spindles, axles and other parts that enable most of the 270 million conventional passenger cars on U.S. roads.
Look under the hood of a new, six cylinder Chrysler Pacifica minivan, said Eichenberg, a Detroit area strategic consultant and a former vice president of a global auto parts supplier. There are 107 forgings that carry out the engine’s high-speed choreography, turning explosions of fossil fuel into horsepower.