The growing market for electric vehicles, enhanced by government incentives, has radically changed the Supply Chain for Automotive companies, especially in material procurement, the first phase of production. Sara Capetti, Sales Administrator at Subaru Italia S.p.A., discusses these issues with Anna Zabeo from ENG Automotive.
Automotive Supply Chain trends
The market of new-generation vehicles is enjoying a strong growth phase, encouraged by government policies and favourable consumer reception. This development has changed the Automotive sector Supply Chain, making it necessary to reorganise the flow of incoming materials. Given the unstable economic environment and the difficulty of making even medium-term forecasts, it is essential to be able to rapidly reconfigure Supply Chains. Anna Zabeo, Marketing & Communication Support at ENG Automotive, examined these aspects of the market in a conversation with Sara Capetti, expert for the Automotive sector and Sales Administrator at Subaru Italia S.p.A., in an interview that follows on from the episode dedicated to the automotive sector’s transition towards BEVs.
Sara, what role does the Supply Chain play in an automotive company?
“The Supply Chain can be considered as the central pillar for product-centric companies. It is an area that has a profound influence on overall business performance, making it possible to place products or services onto the market, transferring them from suppliers to customers. This process requires the involvement of many different professional figures.
The more effective a company’s Supply Chain, the better its corporate reputation and its long-term sustainability”.
What sort of changes will be needed in the Supply Chain as part of the transition from internal combustion vehicles to electric vehicles?
“What is needed today is an innovative Supply Chain, no longer based solely on a system of forecasts and transport management, but an entire integrated process – end to end (E2E) supply chain – that links all aspects in a single platform, from product design and raw material procurement, right through to customer delivery.
Considering the transition from ICE vehicles to BEVs, all Automotive companies have had to reorganise the various phases of the Supply Chain, addressing critical issues and optimising the management of each step, with the aim of reconciling new consumer requirements with profitability and sustainability goals. At the same time, this has highlighted the differences between the two Supply Chains in terms of the solutions undertaken and the methods used (KPIs) to assess process efficiency”.
What are the principal differences in the first phase of the Supply Chain, namely material procurement?
Considering the current situation in the Automotive market, due to the difficulties in raw material procurement, efficient management of sourcing and storing materials is essential for the subsequent operational cycles of the Supply Chain, making it possible to maintain planned production levels without encountering stock shortages.
In this scenario, the potentially show-stopping elements in vehicle production are semiconductors, of which there are twice as many in an electric car (BEV) when compared to an ICE car.
This complexity is compounded by the need to source, in addition to microchips, rare metals (lithium, cobalt, etc.) and graphite, materials that are used in electric vehicle batteries.
Sara Capetti has been working in the automotive sector for several years, acquiring expert knowledge both of commercial vehicles and cars, and developing specific expertise in the technological innovations that are rapidly changing manufacturers’ approach to their products. Her passion for the natural environment gives her considerable interest in the sustainable development goals for road transport vehicles.
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