Despite a slow-growing economy, automotive manufacturers are doing well. Many of their suppliers, however, have a different story to tell. The fourth annual Global Automotive Conference April 7-9 will get representatives from both sectors together at the Sloan Convention Center to explore challenges both face. Survival Strategies for the Global Marketplace: A Guide for the Automotive Industry will actually highlight the supply side of the equation. Timothy Leuliette, chairman, CEO and president of Metaldyne, a Traverse City, Mich.-based supplier of metal components and engine modules, will be the main speaker. Attendees also will get the perspective of manufacturers, including sessions by Emily Kolinski, senior economist with Ford Motor Co., and Pete Gritton, vice president of Toyota Manufacturing North America. Suppliers will find out what some manufacturers are trying to do to correct the situation, said Raja Bhattacharya, associate director of global business at the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University. Visteon, the second-largest automotive supplier in North America, is taking steps indicative of declining demand and rising commodity prices affecting the industry. The company is demanding a 6 percent price cut from its sub-suppliers annually for the next five years, according to Mondays edition of Automotive News. Visteon also plans to decrease the number of suppliers it does business with from 1,800 to 500 within the next five years, according to the article. Rising gasoline and commodity prices, coupled with declining aftermarket demand, are forcing some suppliers to rethink their entire approach. These are very trying times and you know the situation is not going to get better, I would say, for the rest of this year, Bhattacharya said. Hopefully things will get better in 2004, but at the moment, the light at the end of the tunnel probably is not what the suppliers are looking at. Right now, for them its a survival game whether they are going to be in business or not. The conference also is a chance to hear about new automotive products. There are many, said William Parsons, director of global business at the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University. Its been quite dramatic, Parsons said. The automotive industry has led the way to help improve the overall economy since 9-11 with the zero percent financing, rebates and also with the wide number of new products that have been introduced in the last two years. And now they are being pushed to develop even more fuel-efficient automobiles. Kentucky is home to two Ford Motor Co. plants in Louisville, the largest Toyota plant outside of Japan in Georgetown and the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant here. The industry as a whole infuses about $12 billion into the states economy, which makes this conference important to the entire commonwealth, Parsons said. We are sitting right in the midst of the new burgeoning development of automotive suppliers and also manufacturers or assemblers are located all around Bowling Green, he said. There are 62 automotive-related manufacturing plants within a days drive of Bowling Green. More than 300 people have attended the annual conference since it started in 1999. Those interested in attending can register at www.gac.ky.net. Glasgow jobsA planned expansion at R.R. Donnelley in Glasgow will add 30 jobs to the companys digital production facility. Creation of the Digital Solution Center will upgrade Donnelleys high-tech capabilities. It will give the Chicago-based companys offset magazine and magazine and catalog customers more options. Customers, which include 700 magazine publishers, who take advantage of the new technology no longer will have to print out files in order to give final approval. Instead, they will be able to transmit files to a central site then view files online prior to printing. The Glasgow plant, which now employs 1,200 people, also will now be able to centrally process print files for magazine and catalog customers who use the offset process. Glasgows facility beat out larger divisions, including plants in Lancaster, Pa., Mattoon, Ill., Crawfordsville, Ind., Danville and Lisle, Ill. Good deedOne of Greenwood Skate Centers good deeds is being recognized nationally. The center at 506 Three Springs Road was featured recently in Roller Skating Business for offering a free party as a recruiting or rewarding tool for Vacation Bible School programs at local churches. The trade publication is for roller skating centers worldwide. More than 320 area churches participated in the program last year. Thanks to the work of these area youth leaders, other skate center operators around the world are now looking at offering this program to the youth in their area, said Ken Meredith, who has owned the rink for 22 years.