It’s just a great feeling to drive my new car! With this pearl of technology I can conquer the world and experience lots of adventures. The leather smells really nice and with my new sunglasses I am completely the king of the world.

Did you however made any thoughts about the complexity of designing and manufacturing your fancy car full of great and modern things? Creating a safe, nice, dynamic and environmental friendly quality car is not an easy task.

Just not difficult to understand that all the processes secured by car manufactures and their tier suppliers will need to reflect all these requirements in a shorter and shorter timeframe. Changed market expectations have indeed forced the automotive guys to accelerate nearly everything …. with occasionally negative consequences in terms of quality.

Also the procurement solutions used in the automotive industry are known to be one of strongest of all industries and are often referenced by many other people as the target or objective to be reached.

Hereby just some examples of the high maturity level in this functional field:

• elements like just-in-time (JIT) and just-in-sequence (JIS) are on top of the logistical pyramid

• the audit mechanisms used to validate suppliers are very detailed and challenging

• the end-to-end process and cost-effective approach from innovation up till industrialisation are strongly followed and documented

• risk analysis and creation of contingency plans is a well-known sport

• the early involvement of specialized suppliers with the engineering community of car manufacturers speeds up the process while (hopefully) securing an intense and early match

• the more sophisticated cost-reduction methodologies like VA/VE, reverse auctions, standardization or simultaneous engineering are used on a daily basis

• the streamlining of material flows and reduction of inventories is well developed

• the push for yearly cost-reduction or productivity via supportive process improvements is a quite familiar topic

Without any doubt there are major differences between the various players. Just like a Jaguar is different to a Mercedes or a Volvo is different to a Peugeot.

Also the supply chain models and organizations are not exactly the same for the after-market compared to the original (high volume) market.

Just talk to specialists in procurement solutions for automotive to learn more…. Let’s hope you are not driving your car blindly!