The importance of visibility in the supply chain for automotive manufacturers and ways to improve flexibility have been discussed by participants at today’s SMMT International Automotive Summit.
Ian Henry, Director at AutoAnalysis, suggested that supply chain visibility is usually lacking among OEMs due to secrecy surrounding suppliers which can often operate within an organisation. He suggested that this was also exacerbated due to the complex nature of international supply chains.
Contrary to this, CSC Supply Chain Practice Leader, Jeremy Hammant stated that supply chain visibility issues are close to being solved in the majority of cases. He claimed that a limiting factor is uncertainty of how to interpret the information gained from making the supply chain more visible.
Hammant believes that manufacturers should use supply chain visibility to manage costs and make real-time routing decisions in order to allow more flexibility within a manufacturer, depending on customer priorities and possible supplier issues.
He also stated that manufacturers would increase functionality if they collaborated more effectively with suppliers, and claimed that 95% of manufacturers expect to collaborate more in the future, and yield strategic rather than tactical relationships.
