Hyster-Yale _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
We utilize college internships in some keys functions of our business like in product development where we train interns in technical engineering
way ; we used to single source with some suppliers from a single region of the world , so we had to consider how to enhance the security of our supply chain across the globe to be resilient in tough circumstances while offering customers greater flexibility , with shorter lead times and better responsiveness .
“ Part of ensuring the stability of our supply chain is finding more than one source or region , so that if one region struggles , we can call upon another option to source the parts . We ’ re developing multiple relationships to ensure we have an inventory of subcomponents versus finished parts , like a years ’ worth of microprocessors , for instance . However , we must also negotiate agreements to not only maintain those stock levels , but also have more than one component validated and verified for use .
“ The other element is building an ecosystem within the supply chain , or in other words , thinking about the geographic location of our plants and manufacturing facilities . This would enable us to efficiently transition to a one piece flow environment .
Overcoming challenges
“ At the end of the day , we ’ re a complex company that services a huge range of customer demands , which creates thousands of part numbers and thus , a complex supply chain ,” he summarizes . “ We recognize that to manage this , we need to bring it closer to our plant to give us greater control over the entire process and we ’ re currently putting the building blocks in place to do so . The ups and downs of the marketplace don ’ t seem to be slowing down , so we must be prepared to overcome potential challenges in the future .”
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