Despite recent inroads by aluminum, copper will remain the dominant material used in automotive wiring harness applications over the next few decades. That’s because harness weight can easily be reduced by using finer wires wherever electrically feasible.

A fully automatic stripping and crimping system might be the “glamour” technology of wire harness assembly shops. However, there’s still plenty of work for handheld electric, pneumatic and manually powered crimping tools.

In early March, UAW officials met with workers from Nissan Motor Co.’s assembly plant in Smyrna, TN, to lay the groundwork for a third union representation vote. Plant employees turned down the UAW by a 2-to-1 margin in 2001. A 1989 attempt to organize the plant also failed.

Today, the plant where BMW assembles the Mini is celebrating its 100th birthday. The first motor car to emerge from the factory in Oxford, England, on March 28, 1913, was a Bullnose Morris Oxford.

MUNCIE, IN—Automotive supplier Magna Powertrain is planning to invest $11.5 million in its assembly plant here.

TOKYO—Mitsubishi Motors has reported overheating problems with lithium-ion batteries made by the same company that supplied the malfunctioning batteries for Boeing’s Dreamliner.

DANVILLE, VA—Macerata Wheels will invest $8 million to establish a custom wheel manufacturing plant and distribution center here, creating 100 jobs.

INGERSOLL, ON—The Canadian Auto Workers canceled a Sunday ratification vote on a new contract for union members at GM’s assembly plant here after negotiations hit a snag.

CHATTANOOGA, TN—The UAW has won the backing of an influential German union in its effort to represent the hourly workers at Volkswagen’s assembly plant here.

WAYNE, MI—Ford Motor Co.’s revamped Michigan Assembly Plant here supports 24,000 statewide jobs and injects $1.8 billion annually into Michigan’s economy, according to analysis from the Center for Automotive Research.