automotive sector
In the analyst industry, we used have a saying that “when the mainstream press catches on to a trend, it is certainly almost over.” I’d like to think that is the case with the automotive supply chain dilemma, but I’m afraid I would be wrong.
While Supply Excellence has been tracking the ongoing instability and decline [...]
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Just weeks after the Big Three shocked the industry by announcing plans to move some assembly back inhouse, a labor strike at a major auto supplier is making the automakers appear clairvoyant. Adding to pricing pressures, volume cuts, and rising material costs, the United Autoworkers (UAW) strike at American Axle is shuttering production across the [...]
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Henry Ford must be smiling. After decades of outsourcing manufacturing, engineering, and other responsibilities to suppliers stateside and in low-cost regions, The Big Three automakers are beginning to bring sub-assembly back in-house.
Beginning this spring, Ford Motor Company — the birthplace of Henry Ford’s vertical integration manufacturing model — will be the first to take back [...]
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Over the past year, Supply Excellence has been tracking a growing trend for companies to rethink their sourcing strategies. For example, General Motors has made re-sourcing a cornerstone of its (ongoing) turnaround plan. And just last week a major food and beverage company told me it was rethinking supply lines for core ingredients.
Mattel’s Chairman and [...]
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Two years ago, when I suggested that a declining dollar and rising wage and capacity constraints in emerging markets could make the U.S. an attractive “low-cost” region for foreign manufacturers, most of you painted me as Chicken Little. Last year, I awoken your skepticism when I suggested that Detroit and regions of the South that [...]
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With Tata Motors unveiling of its much-anticipated one-lakh (about 100,000 rupees or $2,500 U.S.) Nano car last week, the race to deliver the most affordable car officially kicked into high gear. Analysts revved up positive predictions for the future of the auto industry as automakers around the world scrambled to revive efforts to deliver small, [...]
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Eight months after taking the wheel of ailing Chrysler Corporation, former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli (and his well-heeled private equity backers) has named a new Chief Procurement Officer. Although who was appointed comes as no surprise to readers of Supply Excellence.
As speculated here back in September, Nardelli yesterday finally tapped his old lieutenant John [...]
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For many companies, supplier diversity has been like New Year’s resolutions: we have the best intentions of doing them, but typically fail to as other initiatives get in the way.
Sure certain industries like Aerospace and Defense have been pushing diversity programs for decades, but their initial motivation was largely government mandates. Automakers and retailers initially [...]
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Four months after acquiring ailing automaker Chrysler Corporation, Cerebus Capital Management appears to be rounding out the new leadership. With industry’s shock over tapping the anointing tarnished Home Depot chief Robert Nardelli as Chrysler’s new CEO dissipating, Cerebus has revved up its recruitment engine in recent weeks, poaching top talent from Toyota’s sales and marketing [...]
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In case you missed it, the automotive sector went back to the future last week, when the world’s largest automakers announced plans to share more parts and assemblies in an effort to hold down cost and improve quality.
On paper, the move could provide much-needed cost and product stability. However, the auto sector has a dubious track [...]
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