Troy, MI June 20, 2001 Delphi Automotive Systems announced today that it will launch a supplier portal hosted by Covisint, the auto industry-sponsored e-marketplace.
In making the announcement, Delphi said the portal will enable the company to improve supply chain efficiency by enhancing communications and data management with its more than 5,000 global suppliers.
"This supplier portal supports our vision for an electronically linked supply chain, and will help Delphi to support our customers' requirement for responsiveness," said J.T. Battenberg III, chairman, CEO and president of Delphi Automotive Systems. "Through the Delphi supplier portal, we expect to continue to improve customer service and improve our ability to attain cost-reduction objectives via enhanced communications."
Battenberg added that Covisint should help Delphi's entire supply chain take out inefficiencies through the sharing of production schedule information and through closer work on product development.
Initially, Delphi will have a general supplier Web site to provide a single source for the communication of Delphi's policies, guidelines, organizational contacts and general news designed especially for its suppliers. The next step will be to provide electronic messaging capability between Delphi and its supplier organizations. Delphi said electronic messaging will be the beginning of a variety of targeted applications that will help achieve increased communication, streamlined processes and improved product quality.
Plans for the supplier Web site include tools for quality (problem reporting and resolution), request for quotes, visibility into Delphi payment activities (accounts payable), inventory visibility, collaborative work and purchase order delivery.
"Our suppliers will play a very important role in helping us achieve our objective of improving communication throughout the entire supply chain," said Rick Radecki, Delphi's e-business director. "Working through the Delphi supplier portal should simplify and enhance our working relationships, improve communications and ultimately eliminate waste in the current methods of doing business with our global suppliers."
"The Delphi supplier portal has the potential to provide a standard, cost-effective communication process that allows Delphi to share a portfolio of value-added services with its supply chain," said Kevin English, chairman, president and CEO of Covisint. "With Delphi taking the lead to become the first customer to establish a supplier portal, we hope to move quickly to spread other Covisint value-added services including product development, procurement and supply chain solutions."
Implementation is first targeted for Delphi locations and supply base in North America, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America in the first quarter of 2002. Delphi has worked with Covisint since June 2000 and is a member of Covisint's Customer Council, which is responsible for guiding the company's development of relevant products and services.
As Delphi has moved to connect electronically to its supply base, the company along with the rest of the auto industry has been addressing the question of supplier diversity in the age of e-business. To learn how Delphi and other companies are mixing e-procurement and supplier diversity, see the cover story in the August 2001 issue of iSource Business, entitled Supplier Diversity and e-Procurement: Why Your Initiatives Are Not At Odds.
