Global Best Practices Statistical Yearbook 2007

SUMMARY

Following significant developments year on year, Global Best Practices Statistical Yearbook is now in its 5th Edition, and has become the foremost annual scientific analysis of automotive supplier competitiveness worldwide.

It remains a definitive guide to automotive supplier manufacturing best practice, and a unique opportunity to compare your company's performance against it.

The Global Best Practices Statistical Yearbook can help you answer questions such as:

• 1. Are we meeting the demanding and rapidly changing standards of the global automotive industry?
• 2. Using an objective firm-level benchmarking assessment, how competitive are we really?
• 3. Do we know what defines global best practice standards in the various aspects of our operations? And if so, do we meet them?
• 4. In which areas do we excel and/or fail, and where should we be focusing our attention to improve?
• 5. Does our ownership, geographical location, size or market focus influence our performance? If so, how do we compare against firms that fall into our specific profile categories?´
• 6. Finally, are our measurement systems sufficiently rigorous? Do we measure all the competitiveness variables we should? If not, which measures are particularly pertinent to us and how can we begin measuring them?

Created with participation from companies such as Becker, DaimlerChrysler, Dana, Delphi, Faurecia, Federal Mogul, GM, Lear, Timken, Toyota, Visteon, Denso, Dunlop and ZF Lemförder, it consists of six sections of firm-level statistical data, grouped under six market driver indicators:

• 1. Cost control
• 2. Quality performance
• 3. Value chain flexibility
• 4. Value chain reliability
• 5. Human resource development
• 6. Product development

Fifth edition changes and improvements

Reacting to customer demand, the fifth edition significantly improves coverage in several key areas, particularly:

• Improved global orientation: Benchmark data coverage of the Americas, North America in particular, has significantly increased, representing a major step forward for the yearbook's global market relevance.
• Performance analysis by ownership status, enabling users to compare performance differences between multinationals and independent operations for the first time.
• In addition to these major changes in its content and structure, this 5th edition of the Yearbook builds on previous edition changes, with improved methodology, more detailed sub-sector information, and further developed best practice performance assessments.
• The Global Best Practices Statistical Yearbook remains a definitive guide to automotive supplier manufacturing best practice, and a unique opportunity to compare your company's performance against it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introducing Benchmarking and Manufacturing

Introduction

Section 1:

• Explanation of each of the market drivers around which the study is based
• Formulae, definitions and explanations underpinning each of the core competitiveness indicators that highlight comparative performance
• Overview of the importance of benchmarking
• Extensive profile of the aggregated database upon which the study is based.

Section 2:

Competitiveness data in an aggregated form: The Global Best Practices Programme automotive component manufacturer dataset is presented in both table and figure formats and is broken down according to percentiles, quartiles, means (averages) and medians, thus permitting an identification of performance spread across the set of firms

Averages for each of the disaggregated datasets in four principal categories:

• 1. Market focus of the benchmarked firms
• 2. Location economy (developed versus developing)
• 3. Component manufacturing sub-sector
• 4. Firm size

The section begins with a statistical summary and critical commentary of best practice standards in the global automotive components industry, defined as the performance level of the 90th percentile of firms in each data set interrogated.

Section 3

Firm-level performance findings in terms of the firms' primary market focus (Original Equipment Manufacturer [OEM], aftermarket, or 1st tier component manufacturers)

Section 4

Sub-sector specific performance findings according to 12 automotive component manufacturer categorisations:

• automotive trim
• harnesses
• electronics
• foundry/forge
• JIT assembly
• metal forming/pressing
• metal fabrication
• components
• glass
• heat transfer products
• precision machining
• other (primarily paint and rubber).

Section 5

Location economy (developed versus developing): 'Developed Economy' firms are those based in Western Europe, North America or Australia, whilst 'Developing Economy' firms are based in South Africa, India, Thailand, China, Malaysia or Central Europe.

Section 6

Firm size (based on employment numbers of 1 to 150, 151 to 300, and then any number larger than this).

Consistent with the first section of the yearbook, each of these four sections begin with a statistical summary and critical commentary of best practice standards according to the sub-sector, economy-type, market focus or size of the firms.

In addition to the detailed firm-level competitiveness data presented in the yearbook, financial data capturing sales and employment trajectories, as well as profitability and capital expenditure is also presented in each of the sections. Combined with the firm-level market driver findings, this should give managers at automotive component manufacturers a comprehensive perspective on their present financial and competitiveness performance in the ever more demanding global automotive industry.

Self-assessment tool

An easy to implement questionnaire tool to guide managers through a systematic interrogation of their own company's performance relative to the yearbook's findings, revealing both the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the firm.