The Last Word: Key insights from 2023 industry conferences

Every so often, someone says something—something you just can't seem to forget.

And whatever that something was, it challenged you, inspired you, made you laugh or sparked your curiosity. We've encountered plenty of those speakers in the last year, speakers who shared ideas and insights that allowed us to see the industry, the world or even ourselves from a different perspective.

Here's a look at five of those points from speakers that stuck with us.

Make no mistake, the auto industry's transition to electrification will happen.

It just won't have quite the jolt that was originally expected, Casey Selecman, director of powertrain forecasts at AutoForecast Solutions L.L.C., said during the Rubber News-organized Rubber in Automotive event.

Because while many auto makers are planning for a 92-percent electric vehicle market by 2040, the reality is more like 55 percent of vehicles on roadways will be EV models. And there's good reason for that.

"We don't have enough materials to make (EV batteries)," Selecman said. "They don't exist, and they take a long time to exist."

Challenges lie across the board for core raw materials—nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper and graphite. All require extensive mining, with cobalt being of particular difficulty. To achieve the EV rollout aims, the global supply of cobalt will need to double.

But the biggest challenge will be securing enough lithium.

"I think next year, maybe the year after, instead of chip shortages, we'll start talking about lithium shortages," Selecman said. "Which EVs can't be built because we don't have enough lithium? That's going to be the next conversation to talk about."

Health care cannot be one size fits all. Especially when it comes to medical device design.

Yet, for centuries, that is the approach the medical industry has taken bringing to market equipment and devices that are designed only by men or for men.

But women— Women's health care demands are unique. And their medical devices should be, too, Marissa Fayer, founder and CEO of HERhealthEQ, a New York City-based non-profit, said at the Medical Design and Manufacturing East show.

"Health care is a right for women. … This is not a political statement, but a fact," Fayer said. "It's like this lectern, which at five-foot-three, I am not going to use because it was designed for a man. And unfortunately, we do not always develop medical technology for women.

"We were in the stone ages in fem-tech until about 10 years ago," she said. "These clamps, pulling tools, spreaders. … These are not the only solutions for women's health today, and they cannot be going forward."

Because when the medical industry tailors its offerings to women, it can lead to improved health, lower mortality rates, and longer-term social and economic improvements—particularly in underserved communities and nations.

The challenge is unprecedented. The deadline? Closer than you think.

And that makes sustainability strides more critical than ever before.

Because the planet is warming, the environment is rapidly changing, and the role the tire industry plays in helping to address both is critical.

So the industry is rushing toward 2050 with all or nothing kind of aims—the 100-percent recycled and renewable materials and zero emissions kind.

But even as the industry makes big strides toward those goals—with recovered carbon black and pyrolysis oils, styrene made from recycled plastics and bio-based materials—the need for those materials is outpacing the industry's capabilities to produce them.

And that makes creativity and collaboration more important than ever before, Olivier Brauen, Michelin North America Inc. vice president of circularity business solutions, told Smithers Traction Conference attendees.

"So how do we accelerate together?" Brauen asked. "How do we increase cooperation across a similar value chain, among all the components to catalyze public and private investments?"

How?

You innovate, he said. With humility.

Because it will take a combination of great ideas, big investments and innovations to make meaningful change.

It also will take the willingness to boldly try something new.

"The slope is still pretty challenging," Brauen said. "… We need all of us to push toward the same direction. If we just think about past solutions, it will never work. We have to rethink and innovate. We have to unleash innovation, and this innovation will come from the industry working together."

For leaders and teams, it all comes down to trust.

And when it comes to building trust, the best way to build it is by being you.

"You have got to be genuine," Alex Buck, a group president at Quantix Supply Chain Solutions L.L.C., told Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum attendees. "You have got to be candid."

Because trust is built in moments when you least expect it. During casual conversations. And while it's true that confidence will carry you through some tough or uncomfortable professional situations, you can't lose sight of your authenticity.

For Buck, personally, that meant finding ways to connect with colleagues, which isn't always easy, especially because she found herself as the only woman in the room.

"In terms of social dynamics—because I am the only woman on our executive team and logistics is a very male-dominated industry—I don't play golf, I don't know anything about the NFL and I don't smoke cigars," Buck said.

"But I love college basketball, I play poker and I drink bourbon. And so, I am like: I can work with this. So when they are talking golf or NFL, I just move the conversation to something that is still 'bro-y' but I feel confident and genuine talking about it."

Cold temperatures aren't exactly kind to electric vehicles when it comes to range.

Turns out, cold temperatures aren't all that kind to tires either, at least when it comes to rolling resistance.

During the Clemson University Global Tire Industry Conference, Matt Kent, now general manager of the Smithers Tire, Wheel and Test Center, shared the findings of a Smithers study that put tires to extreme cold temperatures tests.

"Tire rolling resistance performance is strongly influenced by temperature," Kent said. "RRC increased as temperature decreased, and is more sensitive at low temperatures as opposed to high temperatures. So clearly, we have a lot of data at 24 degrees C, and around that range there's some difference, but they are not hugely substantial."

In the Smithers study, the best performing tire showed a 56-percent increase in rolling resistance between the highest and lowest temperatures, while the worst performing tire, Kent said, saw rolling resistance increase by 116 percent between the highest and lowest temperatures.