[77 Monaco Brougham]

Fingers crossed:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/changes-stellantis-leadership-team-enhance-074100648.html

 

[valiant67]

I hope it does. Happy suppliers are necessary to get and keep quality up.

 

[Adventurer55]

Any changes for the North American team?

 

[serpens]

Any changes for the North American team?

You know how it goes. There's always leadership shuffles when a new top person gets installed. Check back in 6 months or so.

 

[Adventurer55]

They need some rethinking, especially in the purchasing dept.

 

[valiant67]

They need some rethinking, especially in the purchasing dept.

One would hope a directive to improve supplier relations would funnel down just as well as the directive to cut costs with suppliers did.

 

[Adventurer55]

One would hope a directive to improve supplier relations would funnel down just as well as the directive to cut costs with suppliers did.

One would hope, but this is the NA operations.

 

[68RT]

This just looks like every other leadership change. Replacement knows what to do and will get it done. Verbiage is same with just character changes. What is behind this may or may not mean a real change. Real change starts at the top and seldom is published.

 

[Adventurer55]

If they had any brains at all they would treat suppliers like part of the team instead of adversaries like they treat labor. The mindset is the Corp is entitled to make as much money as they possibly can and everyone else is not. Time and again companies that treat people fairly get the best results. There's an article out there about comments that the CSX chairman made about this. Interesting read.

CSX’s Foote calls for fundamental change in relationship with union workers - Trains

KANSAS CITY — The 40 or so union rail employees picketing outside the site of the National Rail Shippers Conference, unhappy over their lack of a new national contract, might have been surprised by the message delivered inside by CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote. They might have welcomed it...

www.trains.com

 

[valiant67]

Suppliers were treated as the enemy. Dealers were treated as the enemy which resulted in customers being treated like enemies.
Instead hopefully this is just the start of changes.

 

[Zagnut27]

If they had any brains at all they would treat suppliers like part of the team instead of adversaries like they treat labor. The mindset is the Corp is entitled to make as much money as they possibly can and everyone else is not. Time and again companies that treat people fairly get the best results. There's an article out there about comments that the CSX chairman made about this. Interesting read.

CSX’s Foote calls for fundamental change in relationship with union workers - Trains

KANSAS CITY — The 40 or so union rail employees picketing outside the site of the National Rail Shippers Conference, unhappy over their lack of a new national contract, might have been surprised by the message delivered inside by CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote. They might have welcomed it...

www.trains.com

As usual, it sounds great. But unless it’s accompanied by actual actions and change, it’s meaningless.

In our meetings with upper management…well, it’s really more them talking AT us…we are constantly told “we hear you loud and clear”. Well, ok, you hear us. Great. Now how about an actual action plan to effect change? “Crickets”.

 

[Los_Control]

I probably should keep my opinion to myself. I really have no idea what past performance of the managers/employees who worked in the supply department was?

Maybe they were mediocre or just got by, maybe they did a good job? I do not know.

In today's market where the electronic chips required to build a new car, truck, tractor .... They are just not available. All car manufacturers are dealing with this.
The dealers lots are empty with no new cars, used cars have gone up 40% in value during this time. ..... All the dealers can get in stock.

I go to my local auto parts store & Ol Charlie tells me he has over $10k worth of parts he ordered and just out of stock, he cant sell me what I need.

I go to my local grocery store and the shelf's are either bare or sparse, I get what I can.

Meantime The ports of California are going through a port beautification program, no containers stacked over 3 high & no trucks older then 3 years old allowed in the port. And over 100 ships sitting off the coast for weeks waiting to be unloaded.

So I'm reading this Stellantis person is trying to improve supply while in the middle of a global crisis, they replaced the people in charge of supply to improve it ....
I can only imagine the brutal messages from above to get these people to perform better. Of course they left or pursued other interest ...
Are we in touch with reality here?

To be Honest, lets figure out how we can increase baby formula at this time, not car sales. Firing employees for something beyond their control does not sit pretty with me.

 

[Adventurer55]

I probably should keep my opinion to myself. I really have no idea what past performance of the managers/employees who worked in the supply department was?

Maybe they were mediocre or just got by, maybe they did a good job? I do not know.

In today's market where the electronic chips required to build a new car, truck, tractor .... They are just not available. All car manufacturers are dealing with this.
The dealers lots are empty with no new cars, used cars have gone up 40% in value during this time. ..... All the dealers can get in stock.

I go to my local auto parts store & Ol Charlie tells me he has over $10k worth of parts he ordered and just out of stock, he cant sell me what I need.

I go to my local grocery store and the shelf's are either bare or sparse, I get what I can.

Meantime The ports of California are going through a port beautification program, no containers stacked over 3 high & no trucks older then 3 years old allowed in the port. And over 100 ships sitting off the coast for weeks waiting to be unloaded.

So I'm reading this Stellantis person is trying to improve supply while in the middle of a global crisis, they replaced the people in charge of supply to improve it ....
I can only imagine the brutal messages from above to get these people to perform better. Of course they left or pursued other interest ...
Are we in touch with reality here?

To be Honest, lets figure out how we can increase baby formula at this time, not car sales. Firing employees for something beyond their control does not sit pretty with me.

Well, the quality of parts problems and the managers that procure them predates the pandemic by decades.

 

[valiant67]

I probably should keep my opinion to myself. I really have no idea what past performance of the managers/employees who worked in the supply department was?

Maybe they were mediocre or just got by, maybe they did a good job? I do not know.

In today's market where the electronic chips required to build a new car, truck, tractor .... They are just not available. All car manufacturers are dealing with this.
The dealers lots are empty with no new cars, used cars have gone up 40% in value during this time. ..... All the dealers can get in stock.

I go to my local auto parts store & Ol Charlie tells me he has over $10k worth of parts he ordered and just out of stock, he cant sell me what I need.

I go to my local grocery store and the shelf's are either bare or sparse, I get what I can.

Meantime The ports of California are going through a port beautification program, no containers stacked over 3 high & no trucks older then 3 years old allowed in the port. And over 100 ships sitting off the coast for weeks waiting to be unloaded.

So I'm reading this Stellantis person is trying to improve supply while in the middle of a global crisis, they replaced the people in charge of supply to improve it ....
I can only imagine the brutal messages from above to get these people to perform better. Of course they left or pursued other interest ...
Are we in touch with reality here?

To be Honest, lets figure out how we can increase baby formula at this time, not car sales. Firing employees for something beyond their control does not sit pretty with me.

When a past executive accused suppliers of making excessive profits at the company's expense you can see why supplier relations might be bad.
When the financial presentations after the above statement brag about how much money was made through cost reductions, you can see why supplier relations might be bad.
As for the global supply crisis consider this: I suspect they are finding that suppliers with limited inventory might be favoring other companies who didn't treat the suppliers like crap recently and they might be trying to mend relationships.

 

[Los_Control]

Well, the quality of parts problems and the managers that procure them predates the pandemic by decades.

I will agree 100% with you there. Perfect example is buying points & condensers for older cars. I go to Napa & buy the parts, I find 3 condensers from China are bad out of the box.
I eventually went to the wrecking yard and got a 30 year old condenser to get the truck to run.

So when I found a guy making condensers out of his garage and yea he checked them the best he could for a few years as a mechanic working out of his home garage.
I was happy to pay his $60 vrs the $15 crap I replaced 3 times & never worked ....
Now that is just the condenser, the points has a rub block that you use to adjust the point gap .... it is made out of cheap plastic and in very low miles it just wears down and the gap closes & stops running.

My 1993 Caravan replacement struts I needed to use my die grinder to oblong the adjustment holes on them, to get proper adjustment.

What we are talking about is something beyond our control. If Chrysler wants to build plants here in the USA & create these parts, they can control it.
If they simply want to make a post and claim they want to help ....

A whole lot of difference between fixing things and suggesting how things could be fixed.

Product quality has been a issue for decades.
Stellantis actually need to invest & create manufacturing plants they control, That is how they can control product.

 

[valiant67]

Product quality has been a issue for decades.
Stellantis actually need to invest & create manufacturing plants they control, That is how they can control product.

You don’t have to own the whole supply process to get quality parts. You basically get what you pay for, whether it’s produced internally or from a vendor. In fact, you probably get better parts in many cases because your corporation doesn’t have to be an expert in everything. But you have to work with suppliers rather than treating them as an adversary.

 

[Los_Control]

@valiant67 I will agree 110%
A simple example would be brake lines .... these were not created on the assembly line, they were created in a small plant and delivered when needed for the assembly line.

I can imagine many parts being created the same way

Lets talk about JIT ... is called just in time .... is a new buzzword delivery system.
I had a employer that created a tire mounting machine, had it manufactured and working. I forget if it was peterbuilt or kenworth ... it was Seattle.
He had a large warehouse full of tires & wheels, created a machine with a loooong conveyor belt with tires on one side, wheels on the other.
Was incredible at the end when the tires wheels met, they were installed & such a huge blast of air they were regulated to proper inflation in 15 seconds.
They spent 2 days setting up the proper tire/wheels, on the conveyor belt.
When they ran it they were busier then a one legged man in a [I should have my mouth washed out with soap for using such terms] kicking contest. They loaded the tires just so in the trailer.
On Monday the truck they were building the tires/wheels were right at the door ... Tuesday they built a different truck, again the exact tires they needed were loaded in that position ... same with the complete trailer load of tires. It was loaded according to the build sheet the company supplied.
They loved it and saved them much time & $$$

Never hurts for those with a few million$$ to invest a little more.
I currently do not even know if this man is still alive .... We are talking about American innovation .... A man that stuck his neck out!

I would like to see where a multi million $$ corporation will step in & show their cards.

 

[Adventurer55]

As far as them building new plants to inhouse parts again the cost would be enormous. They could simply improve their supplier relations and most likely obtain the same results for far less money.

 

[Los_Control]

As far as them building new plants to inhouse parts again the cost would be enormous. They could simply improve their supplier relations and most likely obtain the same results for far less money.

And that is where I will disagree ... I admit the current system really ... really sucks.
They simply cant build anything .... our foundry's that make metal are all located over seas .... We need to bring back our ability to make cars.

We simply do not do that today in our current climate .... Nobody from GM, Ford or Mopar will make this right with ought fixing this.
Why I think it is silly for a member to step up and ask what we want? I believe they have no power to create anything .... Step up and start making things, yeah people will follow you.

 

[valiant67]

And that is where I will disagree ... I admit the current system really ... really sucks.
They simply cant build anything .... our foundry's that make metal are all located over seas .... We need to bring back our ability to make cars.

We simply do not do that today in our current climate .... Nobody from GM, Ford or Mopar will make this right with ought fixing this.
Why I think it is silly for a member to step up and ask what we want? I believe they have no power to create anything .... Step up and start making things, yeah people will follow you.

Where a part comes from does not matter from a quality perspective. If you won’t pay for good parts, and hold the vendor to tight specifications you will get garbage whether it’s made in the USA or China. If cost is the primary objective, of course China wins. But you can get quality parts from China.
There are other reasons to not want to source from China, but poor quality is not simply the fault of China, but the fault of companies in the US accepting cheap junk and not demanding better.,