A survey of best practices in automotive supplier development

摘要

This article is intended to survey and synthesise best practices in supplier development in the US automotive industry. The supplier development literature up through the early 1990s consisted mostly of case studies. Since then, enough has been determined through industry surveys and academic research to enable the identification here of success factors (the prerequisites) and best practices - process and methods - used in today's automotive supplier development efforts. The conclusions of our research are the following: supplier development is a widespread and well-justified business practice among automotive OEMs today, but not among lower tiers; there is a consensus that supplier development improves supplier performance, but most companies limit development efforts to suppliers who are underperforming but with which some extended relationship exists; as the supplier relationship progresses towards partnership, OEMs are more willing to engage in supplier development and indeed in direct involvement requiring commitment of their time and resources.