Skip to main content

“Volkswagen FAST” Initiative: Volkswagen Group Redefines Cooperation with Suppliers


  • Volkswagen intends to shape the transformation of the automotive industry together with strong partners

  • Garcia Sanz: “The network of the entire automotive value stream will be even more important in the future.”

  • More than 100 CEOs of top suppliers obtain information on innovations and global networking within the Volkswagen Group


The Volkswagen Group invited its key global suppliers to Wolfsburg today for the kick-off event of the new Volkswagen FAST (Future Automotive Supply Tracks) program. Dr. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft responsible for Procurement, launched the new corporate initiative together with development and procurement board members of the Group brands.


“The automotive industry is changing fundamentally. New technologies and shorter product cycles pose challenges for our industry. In future, a key success factor will be a highly efficient global supplier network,” said Procurement Board Member Garcia Sanz at the kick-off event. The Group-wide Volkswagen FAST initiative targets the best partners in Volkswagen’s international supplier network. “Together with our partners, we intend to forge ahead with the globalization and innovations of our brand and the entire automotive industry and to actively shape the future of the industry,” Garcia Sanz emphasized.


The objective of the FAST program is to prioritize investments and make efficient use of resources in closer cooperation with suppliers. We aim to boost the number of product and process innovations and to coordinate them even more effectively. The first step will be to identify the best suppliers in an agreed selection procedure. Only these companies will receive access to Volkswagen FAST. These partners will be involved in innovation cycles within the Group at an earlier stage. For this purpose, we have established a new innovation interface. In return, FAST partners will also contribute their ideas to the pre-series development of vehicles at an earlier stage. At the same time, production networks between Volkswagen and its partners will be harmonized even more closely in the context of the globalization strategies in order to generate further synergy effects and derive the maximum possible benefit.


The post “Volkswagen FAST” Initiative: Volkswagen Group Redefines Cooperation with Suppliers appeared first on VWVortex.






from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1vFZeev

via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...