New directions at Toyota, Chrysler provide supplier relations best practices

Purchasing.com (Hannon) - With a new strategic partner and a new business plan set last year after it's emergence from bankruptcy, Chrysler is starting with a clean slate. And improved supplier relations is a key component of that turnaround strategy Chrysler outlined last November. The strategies Chrysler employed to improve supplier relations provide purchasing teams a very clear and direct benchmarking opportunity. The company's purchasing organization, under newly appointed CPO Dan Knott, has not only been developing and implementing its strategy but very visible in doing it. No secret, back-room supplier pressures, they say. Tried that, didn't work. Today, with Fiat's input, Chrysler is striving for deep and transparent relationships with its suppliers.  Via SupplyChainBrain

The exact factors and reasons that led to Toyota's massive recall and production shut-down earlier this year may be under dispute for decades to come (and are very much in dispute as of this writing). But for the purchasing function, the lesson in that story came from Toyota's steadfast support of its supplier under the worst conditions imaginable.