Designers helped supplier land contract

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan -When Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc. came up with a different way to make auto window frames, it didn't wait for a purchase order. Instead the supplier went straight to designers to persuade them to use it on future products.

Cooper-Standard was able to sell designers of the 2007 Cadillac Escalade on the clean lines and high gloss available from its Day Light Opening module and get its product selected early.

"You need to start talking with them when it's still in the clay-modeling stage," said Lyle Otremba, vice president of sales and program engineering for Cooper-Standard, of Novi, Michigan Otremba spoke during an interview at the Management Briefing Seminars here last month.

"When the designers understood how they could use it, they loved it," Otremba said.

The module combines a window seal with an extruded plastic exterior finish. And there are no seams.

The company was able to keep its place by also winning over engineers with the single module, which replaced 15 separate parts on previous vehicles.

Designers and other top decision-makers can smooth the way for products they like, Otremba said.

"A vehicle line executive is responsible for the entire car," he said. "For those things he likes, he will protect them like gold."

Getting to those people isn't easy, though.

"It's a hard way of doing business," said Jim Gillette, director of supplier analysis for consulting group CSM Worldwide Inc. "It takes a lot of time, but it can work."

The companies with the best opportunities to pursue the strategy are those that can offer something consumers will appreciate, Gillette said.

Companies that do not fight to get their products before the right people early in the process risk being lumped in with everyone else, Otremba said.

Cooper-Standard works constantly to satisfy requests from lower-level executives, Otremba said. Those satisfied customers can open the door to other officials responsible for future sourcing.

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)