Mike Mearing
Director of Engineering Component Business Unit
Yazaki North America, Inc

I have been working in the automotive electrical connector industry since 1994. I received my bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in Mechanical Engineering and started for Yazaki in October 1994.

I started my career at Yazaki in the ComBU Connector Design team working on Low Voltage connectors for all North American OEM’s. I am currently the Director of Engineering for our Component Business Unit. Although the majority of my career has been in our Component Business Unit but I have also had assignments in Connector Sales supporting Ford Motor Company and have been Director of Engineering for our Ford Business Unit responsible for wiring programs.

I was the Yazaki representative to USCAR for several years and have a good perspective of the OEM – Supplier relationship and challenges in the industry. I have learned there is always a balance in performance to costs and there are no silver bullets.

What I appreciate about the industry is the global nature and exposure to different countries, cultures and creative solutions to solve problems.