Auto parts supplier ADVICS Manufacturing Ohio Inc. of Lebanon plans to invest $100m in a building expansion and new equipment, the company's single largest investment in its 25-year history in Warren County, company officials tell this newspaper.

General Motors is joining the voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay Partnership, which will drive benchmarking of fuel consumption and reduction of emissions by its freight shippers and carriers with the goal of further shrinking the company's carbon footprint.

A federal border patrol initiative sparked by 9/11 terrorism may lead to an automotive industry breakthrough in mapping its complex supply chain. The Automotive Industry Action Group of suburban Detroit is launching a new Web-based database for identifying the physical movement of finished goods, parts and materials through the automotive supply chain.

A new MIT study on supply chain risk shows no correlation between the total amount a manufacturer spends with a supplier and the profit loss it would incur if that supply were suddenly interrupted. This counterintuitive finding defies a basic business tenet that equates the greatest supply chain risk with suppliers of highest annual expenditure.

In taking the helm of General Motors, Mary Barra becomes the first woman to serve as chief executive officer of a major automotive company, a sign that corporate boards and investors increasingly see leaders' gender as a non-issue and gender diversity perhaps even as an asset.

Epicor Software Corp. has released version 4.0 of Epicor BisTrack, a business-management application for dealers and distributors of lumber and building materials.

Traditional commercial vehicle manufacturers, such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, are increasingly switching to providing vehicles fully built by them, rather than supplying only the chassis.

Epicor Software Corp. has developed a hosted version of its Epicor Eagle for the Aftermarket application.