Volkswagen has announced that it is intensifying cooperation with its most important suppliers in a new “Innovation Forum”. The new initiative is described as a further component of the long-term partnership of the automaker with selected suppliers. Volkswagen says the aim is to ensure that innovations by suppliers can be implemented even faster in production by Volkswagen.
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The Innovation Forum was launched by Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for procurement, and the Technical Development department of Volkswagen.
“We have selected 19 suppliers who cooperate very closely with Volkswagen so that we can further improve the quality of individual components and the whole vehicle, thus enhancing customer satisfaction. We will develop innovative solutions together with our partners for introduction in series production,” Garcia Sanz stressed.
Suppliers are called upon to develop ground-breaking solutions in competition. In each case, the best solution will be adopted and the supplier concerned will receive a contract for development or production.
In addition, representatives of the 19 suppliers will discuss the proposals which are to be developed to production maturity with the Board of Management and other top managers of Volkswagen.
The initiative for long-term cooperation with suppliers consists of three main components. The first component, the “Suppliers’ Convention”, which focuses on material cost reduction, already saved a three-digit figure (in millions of euros) in October last year. In the “Suppliers’ Quality Forum”, the second component, Volkswagen has defined measures and targets for the improvement of the quality of purchased parts and quality in general. The third component is the “Innovation Forum”.
