Ford adds Pirelli, Hankook to preferred supplier list

By Amy Wilson, Automotive News

Detroit. Michigan -- Ford Motor Co. named 12 more strategic suppliers to its list of preferred parts makers on 1 Dec. Hankook Tire and Pirelli Tire were among the new names, the first tyre suppliers to join Ford's list of top suppliers.

The new preferred supplier list is part of a major effort at Ford to improve its historically combative purchasing policies.

In the first phase of its new program, Ford plans to cut in half the number of key suppliers from about 200 to 100 or fewer. Phase one covers suppliers of 20 key commodities, including parts such as axles, seats and brakes. Those commodities make up half of Ford's production purchasing buy, or about $35 billion.

More suppliers will be named to the list in the coming weeks. Ford expects to finalise the list of preferred suppliers for the phase-one commodities by mid-2006.

The 12 newest suppliers -- only one of which is US-based -- join 12 other suppliers who were named to the list in September and October. The suppliers named Dec. 1 are:

• Pirelli, an Italian tire supplier.
• Hankook, a South Korean tire supplier.
• Brose, a German supplier of window regulators, door modules and seat adjusters.
• Chassis Systems, a Dana-GKN joint-venture supplier.
• Dicastal Wheel, a Chinese wheel supplier.
• Engelhard, a New Jersey supplier of catalysts and special materials.
• Johnson Matthey, an English supplier of catalysts and special materials.
• Kiekert, a German lock supplier.
• SuperAlloy Industrial Co., a Taiwanese metal forming supplier.
• Thai Summit, a Thai frame supplier.
• Tokico, a Japanese supplier of shocks.
• Umicore, a Belgian supplier of catalysts and special materials.

The first group of suppliers to get the preferred designation at Ford were:

• Autoliv Inc.
• Dana Corp.
• Delphi Corp.
• DuPont
• Foster Electric Co. Ltd.
• Getrag Group
• Hella KG Heuk & Co.
• Johnson Controls Inc.
• Lear Corp.
• Magna International Inc.
• Visteon Corp.
• Yazaki Corp.

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)