Page 48 - MetalForming April 2014

The Automotive Uptick
focus, and it’s our responsibility to support their processes. That means working closely with their engineers to develop packaging that fits their assembly sequence, presenting our parts to line workers to optimize the assembly process.”
Collaboration the Supply Chain’s Vitamin Punch
It’s this type of collaboration and support that makes an automotive supply chain strong, allowing the creation of added capacity without any accompanying quality or safe- ty concerns. And when supply successes occur, kudos from the OEM goes a long way toward building morale—also strengthening the supply-chain’s links. For its part, Chrysler has become great at heaping praise onto its suppliers to recognize success, say Aznavorian and Olszewski.
“For example,” recalls Olszewski, “we were called in to pro- vide a solution to problems Chrysler was having with steer- ing-column security lock boxes. Quality problems with boxes provided by another supplier threatened to shut down the assembly line. In one day we engineered a solution to salvage the faulty boxes, produced prototype parts and delivered them to Chrysler. As soon as word made it to Chrysler’s executive team, we received notes of thanks from several peo- ple at various levels of the purchasing organization. That type of appreciation and communication goes a long way toward strengthening relationships, building teamwork and boost- ing morale up and down the supply chain.” MF
THE PATH TO INNOVATION
April 30 - May 1, 2014 | Novi, MI
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Join your fellow automotive suppliers April 30 - May 1 at The Baronette Renaissance in Novi, MI, for the annual Automotive Parts Suppliers Conference (APSC). Visit www.pma.org/apsc for more information and to register
or contact Rosemary David at 216/901-8800 or rdavid@pma.org.
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of transparency through the supply chain in the last 5 or 6 years has been a tremendous asset to us and other suppliers.” Chief among the “open-book communications” Olszews- ki appreciates: Chrysler’s monthly townhall meetings, geared toward Tier One suppliers. These 90-min. sessions allow Chrysler executives, including Kunselman and his department heads, to update the supply chain on new-product develop-
ments, changes to supplier scorecards and other topics.
The Measuring Stick Keeps Evolving
Much is made of the supplier scorecards used—and fre- quently adjusted—by Chrysler and other OEMs. Every 2-3 years it seems suppliers face new measuring sticks. Aznavorian, who sees this as a means preventing complacency amongst suppliers, notes less emphasis on cost-downs in recent years. Instead, scorecard weighting has shifted toward quality meas- ures (PPM etc.) and the ability to meet expedited delivery dates.
“This is where transparency and communication really becomes an asset,” Aznavorian says.
Also evident to Clips and Clamps executives is the World- class Manufacturing initiative discussed by Zigler in the Automotive Supply Chain article. “We see it when we act as a supplier to Toledo Machining, for example,” explains Olszews- ki. “We supply five parts for a steering column they manu- facture—two wireforms, a fourslide part and two stampings. Ergonomics plays a key role in Toledo Machining’s worldclass
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