Richard E. "Dick" Dauch (July 23, 1942 – August 2, 2013) was 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 the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Huron County. The population was 17,012 at the 2010 census. The city is the center of the Norwalk Micropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combine ...

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 land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

, where he played football before graduating in 1964 with a

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

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. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way o ...

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 as a college graduate-in-training assigned to the Chevrolet Motor Division's Flint, Michigan car and truck assembly plant. By 1973, at the age of 30, he was named the youngest plant manager in the history of the Chevrolet Motor Division. After a stint as Assistant Sales Manager in the Chevrolet

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

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 be ...

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

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

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 General Motors parts plants in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and

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

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 of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

, 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 small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bi ...

according to the

Oakland County Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, b ...

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 Februa ...

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 research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, 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