The SMMT held a very successful CV sourcing seminar at
its London HQ on Wednesday 3 October. The aim was to get commercial vehicle
manufacturers and UK component makers together. ‘We want to help our UK component
members get closer to internationally controlled commercial vehicle makers and
their increasingly sophisticated buying processes’, said Christopher Macgowan,
chief executive of SMMT.
Sir Ian Gibson CBE, chairman of the government’s Automotive
Innovation and Growth Team, led the seminar and gave an overview of the UK automotive
industry and the work of the AIGT. In particular he stressed the success of
the UK commercial vehicle manufacturing business. ‘This is growing very well’,
he said, ‘led by companies like General Motors and Leyland Trucks. They and
European mainland companies like DaimlerChrysler offer real markets for world
class suppliers.’
‘The trick for suppliers is to understand their customer’s
policies and systems,’ said Sharon Clancy, editor of Commercial Vehicle Sourcing
and one of the speakers. ‘Unless you know your customer’s systems nearly as
well as they do, you’ll struggle’, she said. ‘And if the company down the road
has a better understanding, they’ll take the deal. With increasing reliance
on electronic communications and web based parts buying the business environment
is changing constantly.’
‘Most of us run ‘preferred supplier’ policies, said Stuart
Heys, managing director at Leyland Truck, the highly successful Paccar subsidiary,
recently voted Britain’s best engineering Factory by Management Today magazine
and generally accepted to run the most efficient truck plant in Europe. ‘Long
term success implies being firmly on that preferred supplier list, but you shouldn’t
think the list is written in stone – suppliers go and others come, if they can
meet the customer criteria.’
Based at the Vauxhall plant in Luton, Karen Leggio is managing
director, GM Fiat worldwide purchasing. ‘Our overt policy is to grow our business
in partnership with the best suppliers,’ she said. ‘Those supplier partners
will have enormous opportunities for long term growth in successful alliances
with us.’
‘Knowing your customer is essential,’ said Ray Smith, general
manager of DaimlerChrysler’s UK purchasing liaison office. ‘You have to offer
more than your competitor, not only in hardware but in your support services
and in particular in your understanding of your customers standards and systems.
Sadly, many British companies know what to do when they’ve got an order, but
they’re not so good at the groundwork to get new orders.’
The seminar was attended by over 50 major UK automotive supplier
companies and is part of a wide ranging series of commercial vehicle industry
seminars run by the SMMT at Forbes House in central London. This event was open
to invited members and guests only. Other CV seminars in the series will cover
different aspects of the CV business and are open to a wider range of interested
parties.
