Magna plant in Michigan churns out backup cams

DETROIT — If you drive a car with a backup camera, there is a good chance the device was made at a high-tech Michigan plant operated by Magna International, the Canadian global automotive supplier.

In many ways, the Magna Electronics plant in Holly, a village northwest of Detroit, is emblematic of today’s high-tech automotive manufacturing, which includes ever-increasing amounts of electronics, software and microchips.

In Holly, more than 600 employees in three plants assemble small, high-resolution cameras that help people see when they put their car in reverse. The cameras are attached to circuit boards the size of a quarter with as many as 104 components installed by high-tech machines operated by workers wearing static guards on their shoes, long-sleeve shirts and either hats or hairnets.

“This really is the new manufacturing. The old days of beating and banging are gone,” said Rob Devota, process technology manager at Magna Electronics. “This electrical content is growing and growing, so this is the new manufacturing.”

About 45 per cent of rear-view cameras in cars and trucks in North America came from Magna, said Jeff Gary, general manager for Magna Electronics.

The plant has grown quickly in recent years and will likely continue to expand its production capacity. Eight years ago, there were just 80 employees making early versions of today’s backup cameras at the plant. But that was back when rear view cameras to help drivers park their cars were a new option. Now, backup cameras are widely available on new vehicles.

Magna, headquartered in Aurora, Ont., also makes front-facing cameras. Those cameras are linked with the automatic emergency braking systems that are expected to be standard equipment on many new cars by 2018. That means demand is skyrocketing.

Magna primarily competes with Continental, Bosch, Sony and ZF Group for the market of automotive cameras, but the competition is growing.

“It’s an interesting market to be in because there is really no expert in this market. It is evolving so fast. What you know today … it will be outdated six months from now,” Devota said. “When we get stuck, you can’t call Joe down the street … There is no Joe. We probably are Joe in this industry.”

This year, the company expects to produce more than six million backup cameras in Holly, or nearly three times the number produced in 2012. By 2018, Magna’s manufacturing campus in Holly could be making as many as nine million cameras annually.

Magna’s cameras are purchased by 15 automakers and shipped to 181 plants in North America, Europe, South America and Asia.