One More Time: Strategy, Not Operations Is Key for Rest-of-Decade Performance |  download 
Multiple studies we have conducted over the last decade have shown that profitability among automotive suppliers does not correlate to operational excellence. In a recent benchmarking study, we once again found that the highly profitable companies as a group were just average performers in utilization, quality, delivery and inventory turnover. Our studies have found it’s the strength and execution of a business model, appropriate for the times, that separates the highly profitable from the rest. The trends in place today suggest a few key strategies for automotive suppliers to consider for the remainder of the decade. more

So What If You Have a Strategy | download
The supplier claims their strategy is “engineered solutions,” but the brochure provides a list of their equipment. They expect their customer to know that his or her problem can be solved by a 300 ton stamping press with a 108 in. bed, for example. They expect the customer to do the work: to connect the problem with a specific manufacturing process. The brochure or web site describes the company history, equipment and quality policy, rather than describing the types of problems they are best at solving and demonstrating that capability with real examples. If the customer knew the solution was a particular stamping press, it wouldn’t be the engineering department looking for an answer to a problem, it would be the purchasing department that would be shopping for a commodity stamping. more