Nowhere is the spirit of making things more alive than on the floor of the Detroit Auto Show. This year there’s a ton of buzz about new exotics from Ford and Acura, because who doesn’t secretly want a new GT as their grocery-getter!

And if you need to haul a little more cargo, the new Ford F-150 may just be the ticket. It boasts an aluminum body, which shaves 700 pounds of the weight off the vehicle. That translates to 26mpg for a full-sized pickup truck, which is really unprecedented. The aluminum alloys that make this possible are not only lighter, but also in some cases stronger or capable of absorbing more energy in a collision, opening up new design opportunities.

But what’s most fun for all of us at Plex is seeing all the parts, components and assemblies our customers make, showcased in one of the world’s most important automotive events. The tally is truly extraordinary, with most of the cars in the show boasting some element that was made on a Plex-run manufacturing line. To put it in perspective, Inteva, which runs more than 30 facilities on Plex today, has parts in cars made by 17 different manufacturers. Here’s Inteva’s map to the show floor.

So as you walk the show floor this week, remember to look past the paint and exterior panels (although some of those may be Plex-customer-made too) to see the millions of parts that came from manufacturing lines here in Michigan, across North America, and around the world.