Jay Baron, President and CEO, Center for Automotive Research

Expertise and Resources:

Prior to becoming president of CAR, Jay was associate research scientist and manager of Manufacturing Systems with the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. He also worked for Volkswagen of America in quality assurance and as a staff engineer and project manager at the Industrial Technology Institute in Ann Arbor and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Manufacturing Productivity in Troy, New York. Dr. Baron’s manufacturing background includes systems involving machining, sheet metal fabrication, and assembly. His recent research has focused on developing new methods for the analysis and validation of sheet metal processes including tool and die making, tool tryout, and sheet metal assembly processes. He also developed functional build procedures that result in lower tooling costs and shorter development lead times, while improving quality—particularly with sheet metal assemblies. Jay has been researching new technologies in the auto industry. He has studied at plants in Europe, Japan, and North America: looking at body shop manufacturing systems, design and flexibility, and evaluating the manufacturing capability of evolving technologies. He completed investigations on the state-of-the-art of tailor welded blank technologies, weld-bond adhesives, low-volume manufacturing technologies, and analysis of car body sub-system performance and construction methods. Jay holds a Ph.D. and a master's degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.