Richard E. "Dick" Dauch (July 23, 1942 – August 2, 2013) was an American businessman, and co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of American Axle and Manufacturing. Previously, Dauch served as a manufacturing manager at Chevrolet, Chrysler and at Volkswagen's Westmoreland Assembly Plant.

Background

Dauch was born in

Norwalk, Ohio Norwalk is a city in Huron County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 17,068 at the 2020 census. The city is the center of the Norwalk micropolitan area and part of the Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical ...

, in 1942 to W.G. Albert and Helen Dauch, the youngest of their seven children. After high school, he attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he played football before graduating in 1964 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Industrial Management and Science.Richard E Dauch with Dr. Jack Troyanovich (1993), ''Passion for Manufacturing'', Society of Manufacturing Engineers, He married Sandy Rule in 1960, and they have four children. Dauch contributed $3 million to an alumni center at

and served as chair for the 2006

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

torch drive.http://www.uwsem.org/bloguwsem/2006/07/richard-e-dauch-chairs-united-ways.html "United Way Women Initiative celebrates success of first year" retrieved 2010-10-19.

General Motors, Volkswagen and Chrysler

Dauch joined

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

as a college graduate-in-training assigned to the

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

Motor Division's

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

, car and truck assembly plant. By 1973, at the age of 30, he was named the youngest plant manager in the history of the

Motor Division. After a stint as Assistant Sales Manager in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Zone, he was appointed Plant Manager Chevrolet Gear and Axle (one of the five plants he later acquired to co-found American Axle and Manufacturing). In 1976, Dauch became Vice President of Manufacturing for Volkswagen Manufacturing of America, where he managed the manufacturing facilities (

Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly was a manufacturing complex located southeast of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near New Stanton — and noted for manufacturing 1.15 million Volkswagens from 1978 until 1987. When VWoA bega ...

), the first volume automotive transplant in the United States. Dauch joined

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

in April 1980, as Vice President of Diversified operations, where he helped re-engineer their manufacturing systems, establishing just-in-time material management systems and the three shift manufacturing vehicle assembly process. Dauch retired from

in 1991 as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing.

American Axle and Manufacturing

In 1993, Dauch headed an investment group that acquired five

parts plants in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to form American Axle and Manufacturing. It became a stand-alone tier one automotive supplier on March 1, 1994.

American Axle American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. (AAM), headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, is an American manufacturer of automobile driveline and drivetrain components and systems. History AAM was founded in 1994 when a private investor group, led by Ri ...

has become a publicly traded company on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

, and has grown from its original five plants to 35 locations worldwide.

American Drive

Dauch has written a book about his experiences called ''American Drive: How Manufacturing Will Save Our Country '', written with co-author Hank H. Cox. The book was published in September 2012. The book narrates the story of AAM against the backdrop of nearly fifty years in the auto industry, from America's glory days to its massive decline in the face of foreign competition, the government bailouts, battles with unions, and the recent financial crisis.

Death

Dauch died on August 2, 2013, of cancer in his home in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit on the Woodward Corridor, Bloomfield Hills is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, and is ...

, according to the

Oakland County Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Its seat of government is Pontiac, and its largest city is Troy. As of the ...

medical examiner's office.

said in a statement, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Dick’s family and friends. All of us have lost a great friend and leader."

Awards

1996 Automotive Hall of Fame's Industry Leader of the Year
1997 Michigan Manufacturers Association Manufacturer of the Year
1997 Crain's Detroit Business Newsmaker of the Year
1999

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on February ...

Michiganian of the Year
2002 Detroit Regional Chamber's World Trader of the Year
2002

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

, College of Business Administration's Michigan Executive of the Year
2005 CEO Legend Award from Automation Alley
2006 Shien-Ming Wu Foundation Manufacturing Leadership Award
2012 AAM CEO Richard E. Dauch was named keynote speaker at Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association Conference, MarketWatch.com, June 5, 2012.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dauch, Richard E. 1942 births 2013 deaths American businesspeople People from Norwalk, Ohio Purdue University alumni People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan