Shape Corp., a tier one automotive supplier was awarded a 2020 Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Supplier’s Contribution to Excellence) Innovation Partnership Award in conjunction with General Motors for their collaboration in engineering and manufacturing the automotive industry’s first curved, multi-hollow pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam for the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The Innovation Partnership […]

On Wednesday, November 6, 2019, Shape, along with representatives from General Motors, accepted an award for the auto industry’s first curved pultruded composite bumper beam for the rear of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette at the 49th annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala, at the Burton Manor in Livonia, Michigan. Years of effort from multiple teams culminated […]

Shape Corp. engineered and manufactured the automotive industry’s first curved, multi-hollow pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam for the newly unveiled 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The bumper’s superior properties produce a very light weight component, which contributes to protecting the rear and expanded trunk.   “As we strengthen our technology profile, the addition of carbon fiber […]

On The MoveOur Next Steps To Success We are living in the most transformative time in the history of the automotive and transportation industry. The realization of autonomous driving technology, electric and hybrid powertrains, connected cars and ride sharing are all drastically changing the landscape for our customers and the automotive supplier community. Everyone is […]

Shape Corp. is excited to introduce and welcome Randy Pappal as the company’s vice president of global purchasing-supply chain and business development. In this new role, Pappal will report directly to president Mark White and will join Shape’s executive leadership council. Pappal comes to Shape from General Motors Corp., where he held a variety of […]

Shape has been awarded the Outstanding Quality Performance Award from FCA for both our Comstock and 172nd plants. FCA awarded us for both our bumper commodity as well as our plastics commodity. This award is given out to few suppliers; an accomplishment we are very proud of. “It’s really an exciting time at the Comstock […]

Shape China was awarded the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for the 2017 calendar year. This marks the sixth year that Global Supplier Quality & Development will be receiving this prestigious recognition award. The award is given to specific manufacturing locations and only our top performing supplier manufacturing sites are eligible to receive it.  […]

The Greater Ottawa County United Way wrapped up their annual community campaign at the LIVE UNITED celebration event at the end of March. During the event, Shape was recognized by United Way for our large contribution to our community. United Way awarded Shape, the “Out of the Box Award” which is given to the organization […]

We are incredibly proud to announce that the Shape Czech was named Employer of the Year for the fifth year in a row. Shape has consistently made the top five best employers in the country; however, this year Shape was named the third best company in the Czech Republic, even beating out companies like Microsoft. […]

On Thursday, May 24, Shape’s Taft location hosted a buzz of men and women from around the globe. Our second annual Supplier Innovation Day brought together innovators from far and wide to meet and discuss the importance of innovation in the industry. In attendance were the following suppliers: Arconic Ortic SGL CAM Logic HyCal Hyrdo […]

Shape Corp. announced, Monday, that the company has come to terms on a purchase agreement to acquire Ohio-based aluminum extruder, Magnode. The deal comes after a successful business relationship between that two companies that included collaboration on engineering projects, as well as shared research and development around lightweighting best practices. Shape’s global aluminum offerings are […]

Composites Manufacturing Magazine featured some very exciting pultrusion technology Shape is licensing from Thomas Technik + Innovation. You can read more about is creation, development and wide range of applications here.

On Tuesday May 23, Shape Czech was recognized for the third consecutive year in the Sodexo Employer Awards. In 2015, Shape Czech was named first in the region and fifth in the state at the Sodexo awards. The following year, Shape Czech was named the 2016 Employer of the Year for the Pilsen region. The […]

Shape inventors were recently awarded for their brilliant innovation and constant forward-thinking. Engineers were given awards in front of leadership in late March and mid-April. Jeff Piper, vice president of strategy and innovation, described the importance of innovation and why these members deserve recognition, “These contributions to innovation are a critical part of our future […]

Honda North America partnered with more than 20,000 volunteers in over 43 states, as well as Canada and Mexico, to volunteer during their second annual Week of Services. From June 9 to 18, Shape and others dealers and suppliers participated in new or existing volunteer services of their own choosing within their communities. Shape chose […]

As part of the Shape tradition of giving back, members of the Shape Family volunteered to aid in the restoration of Whistle Stop Park by installing new play structure equipment. Due to its wear and tear, the old playground at Whistle Stop Park was removed. After the playground’s removal, a community engagement meeting was held […]

Due to our impressive innovation and growing global footprint, Shape was recently featured in the April issue of Automotive Purchasing and Supply Chain Magazine, an automotive magazine produced in the United Kingdom. The magazine is known for its unique interviews with executives from many of the major international car manufacturers, suppliers and more. Shape’s president, […]

The celebration was one for the books. The greatly anticipated Shape Guangzhou grand opening ceremony took place on Tuesday, February 21. This was an incredible milestone for Shape and the event was a huge success. Around 70 people attended the event from Shape US, Shape China, our customers DFL, NCIC and Toyota, and local government in […]

The Bluegrass Automotive Manufacturing Association (BAMA) bi-annual Learning Conference brought together executive level leaders from numerous tier-one Toyota suppliers. The conference highlights each region’s development and training packages over the last two years. Organizations can then adopt the new content, share it within their organizations and leverage the learnings to help to build momentum. Daric […]

After completing the challenging course design and development workshop in November, Shape China conducted delivery skills training for new trainers by master trainer Jerry Zuo. The training focused on adult learning theory, teaching skills (including verbal and non-verbal skills), as well as presentation and feedback skills to help the participants deeply understand how to be […]

With the automotive industry heavily focusing on lightweighting for improving fuel economy, Shape as always, is eager to support our customers with innovative, lighter weight components. For years we’ve been developing bumper solutions that are some of the best in the industry, utilizing ultra-high strength steels, unique aluminum alloys, and patented cross section designs. Still […]

Last Wednesday 65 engineering and purchasing professionals attended our Tech Show at the Nissan Mexico Technical Center. Shape’s Nissan business unit intrigued the attendees with banners, videos highlighting our plastic capabilities, roll forming and pultrusion technologies, as well as a selection of parts on display. Nissan engineers and purchasing members were eager to learn more […]

Shape is committed to conducting business in accordance with the highest ethical standards. As an organization, we hold high expectations for ourselves, as do our customers, communities and team members. We hold an open door policy, and want to ensure that there are appropriate channels available for our team members, suppliers and customers to securely, […]

Across the country, the unemployment rate is at 4.9%. In the state of Michigan it’s at 3.7% and Ottawa County sits at bottom with 3.1% – the lowest in the state. Low unemployment rates, as we know, makes it very challenging to recruit talent for a growing company. Impressed with our recent recruitment efforts in […]

Open. Honest. Humble. Transparent. “We’ve only strengthened Toyota’s opinion of us as a strategic partner,” said Daric Morell, director of manufacturing, as he talked about his recent presentation at Toyota’s Fall Supplier Event. “Our philosophies regarding people, production and products align closely.” After impressing attendees and Toyota at Bluegrass Automotive Manufactures Association’s (BAMA) annual conference […]

400+ suppliers. 32 recognized. 3 awards given to Shape. At Nissan China Investment Co.’s annual supplier award ceremony, Shape China walked away with three awards, more than any other supplier on April 26. • Quality Improvement • One Time Delivery • 333 Activity Improvement Associates at our China facility have greatly improved their quality by […]

After 14 weeks of deep problem solving, students from Grand Haven and Spring Lake High School presented their findings at the annual FuturePrep’d Academy final event. In January, 11 students came to Shape to learn more about what we do, the manufacturing industry, and career opportunities that fit their interests. Throughout the 16 weeks, students […]

2015 was our safest years to date, and even MIOSHA took notice. Safety is our top priority here, and we have many resources to make sure everyone goes home in the same condition that they came into work. One of the resources we have available are GroPros, compact video cameras, used to look at issues […]

“Leadership is right here in this room,” explained Mark White, executive vice president of Asian and European operations. “You don’t need to have direct reports to have leadership skills – you can lead yourself to success.” There are tens of thousands of books, programs, classes, articles, speeches, and videos that discuss leadership. It’s an important […]

Last month we achieved a Training Top 125 award, coming in at #12 on the list. People are the biggest asset to Shape and our efforts on employee development and training are a critical part to our continued success. Recently, our global training and development program was featured in Training Magazine. Read more about our Global […]

The room was packed with fellow Toyota suppliers at the annual Bluegrass Automotive Manufacturers Association (BAMA), sponsored by Toyota, conference last week. Daric Morell, director of manufacturing, walked up to the stage to speak in front of hundreds of people about Shape’s journey with the Toyota Production System. BAMA reached out to Daric, Jay Blanchard, […]

Shape is partnering with FuturePrep’D again, to inspire and educate students about the manufacturing industry. Students received the opportunity to learn more about Shape, the manufacturing industry, career opportunities that fit their interests. During this program, they will also obtain more confidence going into secondary education and workforce. The program allows students to explore different […]

Nissan held their 2015 Annual Supplier Conference on October 28 and 29 in Franklin, Tennessee. Rebecca Vest, vice president of Nissan Purchasing for North America, presented Shape Corp. with the prestigious Nissan Monozukuri Spirit Award. Shape was one of only three suppliers that achieved this high recognition of Monozukuri Spirit for 2015.  In Japanese, Monozukuri is a compound […]

When Ryan DeBoer, Comstock plant manager, started at Shape just three years ago, the Comstock facility had the worst safety incident rate in the company. Since then, Comstock has turned their safety incident rate around and have now gone two years without an injury. It wasn’t easy getting there. It took an entire team to […]