FORD USA ‘MAPS’ ITS GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN WITH ACHILLES

Ford Motor Company, headquartered inDearborn, Michigan, has launched a pilot project to ‘map’ its global supplychain, to speed reaction time during risk events and to proactively identifyand mitigate potential risks.

It is the first automotive company in the USAto work with Achilles – one of the world’s leading supply chain risk managementfirms, with offices in Houston and Detroit – home of the American automotiveindustry.  

Achilles already operates a supply chain riskmanagement community and supply chain mapping solution in Europe. In the wakeof a series of natural disasters which caused serious disruption to theautomotive supply chain, Achilles started working with Aston Martin, JaguarLand Rover and Toyota Motor Europe to help them proactively identify andmitigate risk in their supply chains.

Achilles will now use the benefit ofthis experience in a pilot with Ford. Together, they will identify exactlywhich suppliers are involved with the production of selected key componentsdown the supply chain. The aims are to:

·        Ensure supplier datais accurate

·        Map out whichsupplier manufacturing sites are potentially exposed to risks including naturaldisasters, to proactively mitigate any potential impact on global production.

·        Address potential bottlenecks,reliance on single suppliers, and identifying companies with long lead timeswhich could impact production.

With the benefit of additional credibleinsights and data, Ford will also be able to take a more strategic approach tosupply chain risk management.

Ford and Achilles are now inviting Tier 1suppliers to provide information about their operations. Achilles will cascadeautomated requests for information on behalf of these suppliers down throughtheir supply chain – creating a complete picture of supplier location, functionand across countries in a single database.

Mike Sanders, Risk Manager at Ford, said:“With automotive supply chains becoming increasingly complex and globalized, weare always looking to continuously improve risk management and hope this trialcould offer a potential solution.”

Chuck Zimmer, USA Business DevelopmentDirector for Achilles Automotive, said: “We are extremely proud to use theknowledge and experience we gained in Europe to help a giant of the US automotiveindustry manage its global supplier base.”