SNECI supports a German car manufacturer in its supplier research activities of MEA suppliers

December 8, 2022

With 10 offices around the world and 450 technical and commercial experts, SNECI assists many industrialists and suppliers in business development as well as in improving their industrial performance. For this purpose, a German car manufacturer asked us to support its ambition to develop in MEA (Middle East & Africa )through our expertise in sourcing and audits.

The context:

With the aim of establishing and developing its activity in the MEA (Middle East & Africa ) zone, a German car manufacturer asked SNECI to assist it in the supplier research and pre-auditing of various suppliers in Africa and the Middle East (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt).

This manufacturer opted for our solutions which are particularly interesting because of our presence in North Africa. These audits have enabled them to adapt their strategy and ambitions in the MEA (Middle East & Africa )region.

Our specialists from SNECI France and SNECI MEA (Middle East & Africa ) were able to accompany them throughout the process, thanks to a team of qualified experts with the necessary local market knowledge.

Objectives & team for this mission:

Several objectives were set:

Research of potential suppliers in the MEA (Middle East & Africa ) region.
Research on legislation and regulations in the MEA (Middle East & Africa ) region.
Benchmark of other manufacturers in the MEA (Middle East & Africa ) region.
Pre-Audit and classification of suppliers present in the area.

SNECI was also asked to bring its knowledge in the field of purchasing and supplier development.

3 types of expertise to carried out this mission:

A senior buyer project manager with more than 20 years of experience in automotive purchasing and specialized in the management of complex international projects.
Senior buyers with more than 10 years of experience in automotive purchasing and MEA (Middle East & Africa ) experts in addition to being based in the region.
A local integration expert with 30 years of experience in the automotive industry with several years in the MEA (Middle East & Africa ) region and used to negotiating with governments and the different back and forth that this entails.

To be noted that our team of quality auditors gathers experts with more than 10 years of experience, the majority of whom have VDA certification and/or OEM accreditation to perform audits.

Details of our mission:

Our client, whose requirements are strict, asked us to source 450 suppliers in Africa and the Middle East (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt). This is one of our strengths at SNECI, to be able to rationalize costs when our client’s objectives are international and we will come back to this later on the results part.

Here are the different steps of our organization for this mission:

Identify a panel of 450 suppliers in the 5 countries mentioned
Present summary sheets on each of the suppliers questioned
Pre-Audit a selection of 150 suppliers, based on the VDA standard

The presence of local SNECI teams was a strong point in this project, allowing to take into account the different political and cultural constraints in each country.

For Algeria, Egypt and Morocco: the mission was carried out by a local team in order to reduce travel costs.

For Tunisia and Libya: the mission was carried out only by a Tunisian team, knowing that there were no language or diplomatic barriers.

Results:

Thanks to our intervention, the German car manufacturer, who was technically unable to source and audit suppliers in 5 different countries, was able to benefit from a complete, local and reactive support allowing him not to have to bear this constraint.

Thanks to our subsidiary MEA (Middle East & Africa ), we were able to put local resources closer to the suppliers in terms of culture, to lift any language barrier and to avoid any risk of misunderstanding.

This allowed our client to save money and time, but above all to meet deadlines and deliverables.

Our client did not have to bear any travel costs or fixed costs by putting its own resources.

He was able to benefit from SNECI’s experience. This experience helped him manage suppliers in another language. He could explain the technical aspects of the specifications. Additionally, he ensured that the suppliers’ responses met the OEM requirements. These requirements included quality, costs, and delivery.

SNECI and the accompaniment in Sourcing & Audits:

Thanks to our presence in the four corners of the world and more than 450 technical experts within the SNECI Group. We are able to provide tailor-made, responsive, local, and agile support. This support aims to improve our customers’ industrial performance. Like we did with this German car manufacturer.

Our expertise in Sourcing & Audit includes

Sourcing of suppliers & Management of tenders (RFI, RFQ)
Supplier evaluations and audits with follow-up planning and support
Preparation to audits and realization of internal audits for certification.
Possibility to audit you according to industry standards: ISO 9001, IATF 16949, OHSAS 18001, ISO 26262, those of your customers (e.g., Stellantis QIP standard, which includes NSA “New Supplier Assessment”, …) to enter their panel of suppliers without forgetting ISA (complete audit standard developed by SNECI): evaluation of production, R&D, purchasing & logistics, sustainable development (CSR, carbon footprint) and financial criteria of any company.
After each assessment, SNECI provides action plans to ensure sustainable improvements.
Quality resident on site to ensure product compliance.
Support in managing customer-supplier relations in crisis situations.

Our advantages are multiple:

Database of more than 12,000 qualified suppliers worldwide (components on more than 15 commodities, tooling, …)
Costing and local integration tools
Long experience of local integration in emerging countries
Proven expertise with experienced teams, robust and proven processes and methodologies (Monozukuri, …)
Mastery of the requirements of ISO standards (SNECI is ISO 9001 certified)
More than 1500 audits performed
Knowledge of customers’ quality requirements
Team close to customers’ sites worldwide thanks to 450 employees in 45 countries
STELLANTIS recommendation: agreement since 2015 to audit (NSA “New Supplier Assessment”) and upgrade their suppliers according to the QIP standard
Own ISA standard developed by quality experts and adjustable to your needs

As you can see, with 70 years of expertise, SNECI supports manufacturers. It does so by giving them the means to achieve operational excellence. This support encompasses various areas such as supplier sourcing, auditing, and management of complex industrial projects. Additionally, it includes training & coaching services, as well as sorting and reworking. Not to forget the involvement of purchasing and logistics teams.

So if you too would like to have more information and benefit from SNECI’s support in improving industrial performance, do not hesitate to contact us via our website.