Doing More for Less: Gaining Design and Cost Efficiency Through “Integrated Supply Based Management” 960542

Automotive suppliers need to enhance their skills and expand their resource capabilities to succeed in today's new business environment. Suppliers must be prepared to assume full responsibility for developing and engineering complete systems. They must also provide on-site engineering for applications integration and production launch. At the same time suppliers are expected to provide more services, they must meet aggressive cost reduction targets established by their customers and assume warranty responsibility. These conflicting demands place a significant financial burden and risk on suppliers, but they also present a tremendous business opportunity for suppliers who can meet or exceed the expectations of the automakers. The winners in this new business environment will likely be those suppliers that best manage an array of resources, both internal and external, throughout the supply base.