An annual automotive industry study on the major US and Japanese automakers’ working relations with their suppliers shows the Japanese makers in the top rankings once again.
The study by Planning Perspectives shows Toyota, Honda and Nissan finishing 1-2-3 respectively in the top rankings.
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The annual study focuses primarily on Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota, because these six automakers comprise 86% of light vehicle sales in the US.
Among the findings, the survey report says that Toyota’s and Honda’s efforts to improve supplier relations have paid off as they have regained their momentum and are ranked one and two, respectively, while extending their lead. Honda is the “most preferred” customer among the six OEMs.
Nissan, the second most improved overall following Toyota, has taken over third place from Ford.
“History repeats itself. Historically, the Japanese automakers – especially Toyota and Honda – had a commanding lead in supplier relations and were the companies suppliers preferred to deal with. Then, the combination of the 2008 recession, the impact of the 2010 Japanese earthquake, and the increase in purchasing personnel caused both companies to lose their way and their rankings plummeted,” said John W. Henke, Jr., CEO of Planning Perspectives.
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By GlobalData“Meanwhile the US automakers, under new purchasing leadership, made significant improvements in their supplier relations. Now, however, the ranking trends suggest that the Japanese automakers have figured out their problems, corrected them, and are back on track, while the US automakers appear to be faltering. In fact, this year GM and Chrysler supplier relations have fallen back into the Very Poor to Poor range.”
