Steps Toward Excellence: Our Mutual Responsibility

Steps Toward Excellence: Our Mutual Responsibility

FCA is continuously striving to enhance communications with our supplier partners in order to pursue our goal of excellence. Sharing new ideas and projects are essential for promoting mutually beneficial relationships.

FCA Group Purchasing is an organization which manages relationships with suppliers and defines purchasing strategies that are then integrated at the global level. FCA Group Purchasing also works with other internal functional areas and suppliers to integrate key environmental requirements as well as social and governance elements into our purchasing processes, thereby, actively promoting long-term success.

Destination 2020

In 2014, FCA Group Purchasing launched the global Destination 2020 project. The main objective of this project is to enhance our supplier partnerships and build long-lasting relationships that comply with the eight Foundational Principles.

FCA Group Purchasing employees contribute ideas and solutions with the intent of improving business practices in order to attain the Company’s long-term targets and objectives.

Supplier Qualitas Convention

For FCA, rewarding merit is a clear principle that is recognized at all levels. Group Purchasing undertakes measures to highlight top performing suppliers for exceeding customer expectations. Every year, the Supplier Qualitas Convention is hosted in all four FCA operating regions, where selected suppliers are acknowledged and given trophies for their accomplishments. FCA also openly discusses corporate strategies and key initiatives related to improving quality and ensuring long-term, mutual success.

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Communicating

Communicating with our suppliers

SUPER Program

FCA Group Purchasing also promotes many initiatives for incentivizing the sharing of supplier innovations. One example of this is the Supplier Product Enhancement Reward (SUPER) Program. This program encourages suppliers to adopt a proactive approach to the management of component requirements expressed by FCA. In addition to identifying technical solutions which not only produce innovate products, but also reduces component costs. Through this program, innovative production technologies are implemented and component designs are improved, resulting in economic benefits that are shared with suppliers.

eSupplierConnect

For FCA Group Purchasing, being able to continuously promote dialogue is another fundamental ingredient for enhancing supplier partnerships. eSupplierConnect is a FCA portal through which suppliers within the four operating regions can access the technical, commercial and logistics planning applications, which result in improved supplier efficiencies.

Technology Day

FCA organizes other initiatives for promoting the exchange of ideas and information with its suppliers. Technology Days, for example, are meetings held in FCA locations worldwide and actively involve suppliers.

These meetings provide a forum for suppliers to present solutions they can offer to all FCA organizations, including Engineering, Purchasing and Supplier Quality, in terms of innovation, technology and quality.

The face-to-face interaction allows suppliers to get immediate feedback to their innovations and receive recommendations on the current and future needs of FCA.

Supplier Town Hall in NAFTA

FCA organizes open forums for suppliers with the purpose of having them involved, informing them about the key themes and business operations in order to enhance transparent and “One Voice” communications. These meetings can also be followed online, making them one of the main two-way communication channels.

Supplier Advisory Councils

The purpose of these meetings is to promote top-level dialogue between FCA Group Purchasing and selected global strategic suppliers regarding matters which impact medium and long-term business plans.

The goal is to share information, align strategies and investments, and assist with risk management for the organization. The level of detail discussed and transparency provided during these meetings helps to promote supplier commitment. The Regional SACs meetings are held on a quarterly basis, while the Global SACs meetings are held twice a year.

Creating sustainability

Creating sustainability with our suppliers

CDP Supply Chain

In order to increase awareness of climate-change issues, FCA engages supplier partners by inviting them to take part in the CDP Supply Chain Program. The goal is to encourage transparency and promote collaboration in the value chain. Companies can demonstrate engagement, tackle the risks, take advantage of opportunities and ensure business continuity.

Strategic meetings

FCA involves its strategic partners in top-level executive meetings in order to align the technological requirements of Group Purchasing with the skills, capacity and resources of the supplier.
The main purpose of these meetings is to share and align the roadmaps and innovation processes, develop new content for vehicles, react quickly to market needs, and generate enthusiasm for the challenges ahead.