![]() He said the importance of data-driven early warning systems that can identify problems in the supply chain before they impact parts deliveries to automakers are becoming increasingly important. 1 priority" in its relationships with suppliers and automaker customers, said Paul Thomas, Bosch's executive vice president of mobility solutions. Robert Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, now views transparency as the "No. ZF is not alone in building out such a system. ![]() "If the root cause of an issue is that supplier X is having COVID issues in China or Malaysia, we try to take that information and communicate it to the team to see if that is going to hit us in other places," Streng said. ![]() The ZF team developed a prototype for what would become its customer tracker tool, which utilizes the company's build plans, looking at data on incoming supply through Microsoft's Power BI data visualization software to help managers know when and where to expect parts shortages. "We realized our traditional tools were not satisfactory to manage this situation," she said. But it quickly became clear that would not be enough, said Rebecca Streng, vice president of supply chain management for ZF's advanced driver-assistance systems and electronics division. But COVID-19 upended everything, causing massive ripple effects as factories shut down and parts once taken for granted became much harder to come by.Īs supply chain troubles began to mount for German parts giant ZF Group in late 2020, ZF's advanced driver-assistance systems and electronics group put together a task force to keep track of the latest developments. While occasional regional issues would flare up because of a natural disaster, labor strike or political crisis, the global supply chain largely hummed along smoothly. Twenty years ago, an automaker or Tier 1 supplier might not have known or cared where certain raw materials were sourced by Tier 2 suppliers, or from where the widgets that get built into a larger component on the other side of the world originated. More than two years into the COVID- 19 pandemic, and nearly that long into the global microchip shortage, auto companies are taking stock of their suppliers to determine ways to stay on top of an unprecedented barrage of supply chain woes.Ĭompanies and governments figuring out how to gain greater visibility into incredibly complex automotive supply chains has become a major topic as the industry grapples with the challenges in front of it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |