Archive for Automotive Industry
The Toyota Recall
· CommentsToyota, the company that invented the Toyota Production System and brought lean manufacturing techniques to the world’s attention, is one of the most respected names in Supply Chain Management. But over the past few weeks, Toyota has recalled about 9 million vehicles worldwide due to problems related to accelerator pedals, and last week the company decided to halt production and sales of eight models. As a result, Toyota’s… Continue reading
Ford’s Service Parts Supply Chain
· CommentsI recently spoke with key members of Ford’s service parts supply chain and IT organization in North America to better understand how the company is using SAP’s end-to-end service parts supply chain solution (SAP is an ARC client). Ford and Caterpillar Logistics, as key customers and partners, have helped SAP to build out this solution, particularly in the area of service parts planning. Ford has implemented service… Continue reading
Last Friday, President Obama signed into law a $2 billion extension to the “Cash for Clunkers” program, after the initial $1 billion in funding was consumed in the program’s first week. The Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program, the official name of this legislation, offers consumers up to $4,500 to trade in gas guzzlers for new cars or trucks with better fuel efficiency.
There are valid… Continue reading
When Danny Boeykens, a partner at MÖBIUS, a European boutique consulting firm, read my posting on “Supplier Risk Management and the Automotive Supply Chain,” he pointed me to a Financial Times article by Richard Milne that provides a European perspective on this problem.
As stated in the article, “When Edscha, a German manufacturer of sun roofs, door hinges and other car parts, filed for insolvency [in… Continue reading
I came across a white paper from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) called “Seizing Opportunity: Linking Risk and Performance”. In one place, the paper highlights a “global automotive manufacturer” that was “experiencing significant losses due to a key risk in its supply chain: supplier bankruptcies.” The company faced the direct costs of those failures, as well as the “indirect costs derived from the poor product quality, unreliable supply, and management distraction” that… Continue reading
According to a Reuters news report, Ford plans to “identify 850 suppliers eligible for its future business by the end of this year, down from 1,683 suppliers last year.” Tony Brown, Ford’s group vice president of global purchasing, is quoted as saying, “We’ve accelerated our efforts…to rationalize the supply base in order to get to profitable growth for all. There is simply too much capacity in the system. We… Continue reading
While conducting an Internet search, I came across a course offered by The Quest Team to sales people in the semiconductor industry. The course is called “Combating Aggressive Supply Chain Management: Strategies and Tactics for Leveling the Playing Field”. Here is part of the course description: “The SEM industry has been hit with increasingly aggressive customer supply chain management programs, initially introduced as PICOS, which have become more… Continue reading
I’ve heard that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” is composed of elements that signify “danger” and “opportunity.” A professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania says this is untrue, which is too bad because it is such a good story.
It is also exactly the situation that GM finds itself in. The bankruptcy creates an opportunity to create a new value chain. Specifically, it… Continue reading
