Over 200 one-to-one meetings between automotive OEMs and suppliers took place on Tuesday this week at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon to exploit the potential business opportunities that exist in the UK to source parts and components from local suppliers. The event follows the publication of the Automotive Council UK Sourcing Roadmap, which identifies that UK suppliers are capable of responding to approximately 80% of UK-based OEM demand.
The ‘Meet the Buyer’ networking opportunity, organised by SMMT in line with the strategic remit of the Automotive Council, is the second of its kind following last year’s success and provides an excellent mechanism to facilitate important business opportunities through a speed networking style format. Approximately 200 people attended representing 80 supplier companies and 19 buyer companies.
Prior to the event, SMMT received buying requirements from major OEMs including Aston Martin, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, which were matched on the day with suppliers from SMMT’s Automotive Supplier Finder (ASF) directory. In addition to matching OEMs with tier 1 suppliers, the event also looked to match tier 1 businesses, including Aisin, BWI Group, Calsonic Kansei, Faurecia, Futaba Tenneco, GKN Driveline, Koito, Kostal, Toyoda Gosei and Unipart with tier 2 and tier 3 companies.
Last year’s event resulted in over 90 one-to-one meetings between OEMs and UK based suppliers, with 89% of suppliers identifying at least one business opportunity. 33% of suppliers were matched with between two and five potential opportunities.
Initial feedback from yesterday’s meetings already indicates good results already and SMMT’s priority will now be to foster these relationships and turn them into genuine business deals. To download the PowerPoint presentation slides from the event, click here.
