Just as the supply chain is smoothing out and the cadence of production improves, automotive suppliers are now seeing red where balance sheets had long been stable. The soaring cost of money and tightening credit conditions are hurting liquidity, and in some cases, tipping financially distressed companies into insolvency. Small- and mid-size suppliers that are heavily leveraged with a large amount of variable interest debt are the most vulnerable. That applies to many manufacturers in Michigan, said Steven Wybo, senior restructuring and management consultant at Detroit area firm Riveron. "For the first time in over a decade, we're actually talking about interest rates significantly impacting businesses' ability to grow and survive," he said. While automakers took in record profits over the past couple of years, their suppliers absorbed most of the impact of supply chain snarls by cutting costs, trying to renegotiate contracts and often taking on more debt — a de