The Society of Automotive Engineers Foundation will present its 2007 Manufacturing Leadership Award to Carlos Ghosn - the President and CEO of the Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. - at the foundation's banquet on Thursday, May 24, at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.
The SAE Award is in recognition of the remarkable and meaningful contributions of individuals to the development of the automotive industry. The nominees for the award must have achieved a significant level of success in their manufacturing careers, demonstrated innovation and risk taking, and established a new direction or developed a position that challenged their industry. They also must also have made contributions outside the automotive industry, exemplified through community education, philanthropic or government activities.
"I am honored to receive this award from the SAE Foundation, and I accept it on behalf of the 220,000 talented Nissan employees around the world whose performance made this recognition possible," said Ghosn. "Nissan is a learning company, and we commend the SAE Foundation's mission to promote science and technology education in today's classrooms. By supporting the foundation's initiatives, we hope to inspire students to create value for generations to come."
Ghosn, who graduated with engineering degrees from Ecole Polytechnique in 1974 and from Ecole des Mines de Paris in 1978, is currently serving on the board of directors of Alcoa. He was born in Brazil on March 9, 1954. He and his wife, Rita, have four children.
Ghosn joined the Japanese automaker as its chief operating officer in June 1999, became its president in June 2000 and was named the chief executive officer in June 2001. In May 2005, Ghosn was named the president and the chief executive officer of Renault S.A. in addition to his current responsibilities at Nissan. As head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Ghosn is responsible for two separate companies with the combined annual global sales of 5.9 million vehicles.
Before joining Nissan, Ghosn was the executive vice president of the Renault Group. Aside from his supervising Renault activities in the Mercosur, he also was accountable for advanced research, car manufacturing, car engineering and development, powertrain operations and purchasing. He checks on the quality of and other parts and accessories of the automaker.
Prior to joining Renault, Ghosn had worked with Michelin for 18 years. As the chairman and the chief executive officer of Michelin North America, he presided over the restructuring of the company after its acquisition of the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company in 1990. Previously, he had worked as the chief operating officer of Michelin's South American activities based in Brazil; as head of research and development for industrial tires in Ladoux, France; and as plant manager in Le Puy, France.
Ghosn is dubbed as Nissan's ace in its industry struggle. For this year, the CEO is confident about Nissan achieving annual global sales of 4.2 million vehicles. Ghosn said, "4.2 million cars isn't an objective in itself - the real objective is the creation of value - but I think it is within the potential of the company, not 10 years down the road but in a reasonable period of time."
"I don't like giving up on targets that I consider to be within the reach of the company," Ghosn added. But he said that he wanted to avoid Nissan employees becoming "desperate or believing that they can never reach their target. Nissan employees are now on board to meet the new goals, although they know it's not going to be easy. We will avoid the hole in our product renewal at the planning stage."
But Ghosn noted that the auto manufacturing business is not always a straight-line industry and failures are frequent. "If we were hitting every single product right, we would not have seven percent of operating margin but 20 percent. One of reasons car manufacturers make only eight percent or nine percent is there's so much shortfall because you are incapable of making sure that when you are building your car you are going to be successful on the market. That's what makes it an unpredictable industry, where ups and downs happen often, and where turnarounds are possible, and collapses can be quick," he stressed.
