Ford Motor Company announced seven new Aligned Business Framework (ABF) suppliers, bringing the total number of companies in the ABF network to 65. Under ABF, Ford and suppliers enter into long-term contracts to strengthen collaboration and drive mutual profitability and technology development.
"We developed the ABF strategy to find a better way of working with our suppliers," said Tony Brown, Ford group vice president, Global Purchasing. "Over the past year we have continued to expand the number of companies in our ABF family, while at the same time implementing the ABF principles across our entire organization."
ABF suppliers added since September 2007 are:
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Durr AG* |
Microsoft Corp.* |
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Imagination Ltd* |
Neapco LLC |
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Jack Morton Worldwide* |
Synovate* |
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Linamar Corp. |
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* Non-production Supplier
Launched in 2005, ABF agreements establish working business models for both Ford and the selected suppliers. The agreements comprehensively and formally spell out business practices designed to increase future collaboration, including phased-in up-front payment of engineering and development costs, extended sourcing and data transparency. As part of the agreement, Ford increases the volume of business with select suppliers. Since launch, Ford has identified 46 production and 19 non-production ABF suppliers.
Through ABF, Ford is making strides improving its working relationships with suppliers on a global basis.
"ABF is playing a pivotal role in the implementation of our One Ford strategy and fits seamlessly into our global product development system for our upcoming C-car and other global programs," Brown said. "Through it, we are able to align our supply base with our corporate objectives to deliver more vehicles worldwide from fewer core platforms, improve quality, reduce costs and increase our use of common parts and systems."
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