Communication Is Key to Supplier Relations

January 20, 2012


A purchasing panel of suppliers and automakers told the Automotive News World Congress how they seek to improve communication and collaboration in the supply chain.
Nissan Motor Co. relies on a supplier council to provide feedback on Nissan’s purchasing, said Rebecca Vest, vice president of purchasing at Renault-Nissan. The council, set up last year, has representatives from 12 parts makers who offer what she said was sometimes “excruciatingly candid feedback” about areas in need of improvement. “In 2012 we are going to cross off methodically the open items that exist from the supplier council,” she said.
Dan Knott, Chrysler Group’s purchasing boss, said the automaker will overhaul the way it communicates with its suppliers in an effort to give suppliers a single set of expectations rather than several that may be contradictory.
The new initiative, dubbed “One Voice,” will roll out from the second quarter through year end, with leaders from engineering, purchasing and supplier quality meeting with suppliers to lay out expectations.
Bob Young, vice president of purchasing at Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, said coordination with parts makers was essential to Toyota’s recovery from the March 11 earthquake in Japan.
Young called suppliers “the real heroes” in getting Toyota’s assembly lines back online. But the quake also exposed just how little communication there is between automakers and lower-tier suppliers, many of whom were all but unknown until plants were idled by the disaster.
Rob Deni, vice president of global supply management at BorgWarner Inc., said the company is pursuing collaborations with companies outside the auto industry. The goal is to pair with noncompeting companies that use similar processes or tap similar supply bases for components and materials. Often, they have innovative purchasing methods that are unknown inside the automotive industry, Deni said.
BorgWarner, for example, is cooperating with a maker of speakers and headphones to find new methods to acquire the rare-earth metals that are used increasingly in hybrid vehicle batteries and the electric motors of battery-powered cars.
Emilio Esparza, director of purchasing at Valeo North America, said cooperation and clear communication between automakers and suppliers is especially important as the recovering industry races to meet a surging customer demand. “Growth with innovation is done together,” he said. “If you want to go fast, you can run alone. If you want to go far, you have to run together.”