Page 44 - MetalForming April 2014
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The Automotive Uptick
lead and Scott Kunselman is the Chrysler lead. Each of the global directors is in a matrix organization and wears a glob- al hat to report to Scott Garberdine and a regional hat to report to whoever their regional head of purchasing is. For example, the global chemical lead is located in the United States but, depending on the commodity, the senior manager under him could be located in Latin America. The lead buyer for a commodity, oil for example, could be located in Europe.
“These groups at the commodity level are completely integrated globally; they have their own staff meetings and their own sourcing tables. We started this process several years ago and it is well-established and gives us a lot of abil- ity to create common global strategies for our suppliers and for commodities.
“One of the key functions of our buyers is to create com- modity strategies. They work in conjunction with engineer- ing counterparts and supplier-quality specialists to create, for example, a global strategy for glass. They identify the glass suppliers we are using globally and determine whether we have the right number, too many or too few and whether the ones we are using have the right geographic footprint. Then, collectively as a global team, they determine the global strat- egy for that commodity. The buyers, wherever they are in the world, source according to that strategy.”
One of the concepts that Chrysler has really embraced since the Fiat acquisition is World Class Manufacturing, Fiat’s production system, which is similar in some ways to the Toyota Production System with its emphasis on waste elim- ination and continuous improvement.
“We train suppliers in the ways of World Class Manufac- turing in an effort to create true cost reduction and not just price reduction with our suppliers,” says Huber. “From a raw material standpoint, we haven’t seen huge issues in the past year or so in terms of cost escalation.”
OEMs will always hope to ensure that their suppliers are bringing innovation to them before they bring it to anyone else. One of the chief complaints from the supplier side, however, concerns the length of time it can take before the OEM evaluates and finally decides whether or not to imple- ment the new idea. According to Huber, Chrysler has accel- erated the process.
“We have developed a system by which suppliers can sub- mit innovations to us through the purchasing department. Before, it might have been a little bit of a convoluted process for suppliers to know how to bring our attention to their innova- tions and so we created what is basically a funnel through pur- chasing where suppliers can submit their ideas and, very quickly, there is a purchasing and engineering taskforce that reviews them and responds promptly with a yes or no answer. If we are interested, it will lead to a presentation by that supplier to a group of our senior vice presidents with responsibility for product development, engineering and purchasing. It is a really interesting and unique opportunity for suppliers to get their ideas accepted through this portal.
“We also have created a specific team within engineering
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