by Anuj Guglani, CEO, World Auto Forum

The auto industry is one tough industry to crack. As in, enter for business or work. Most join the Industry as interns and retire as CXOs!

The Suppliers and the Dealers are also a close knit fraternity. They compete and cooperate!

Co-opetition in the Truest Sense

Whether its the technical thing or the passion or both, surely works as an insulator as well as an adhesive here!

Last 3 months + of Covid have changed a lot of things especially the “Tough to Crack” part. The industry has opened up!

Supply Chain Shift Shocks make Auto Makers look for Alternatives

The Procurement Teams at Auto Makers are a worried lot lately. Till the time there was a complete lockdown, everything was shut and it was still ok, well less worrisome!

Since the production resumed, their supplies suffered shocks almost every week. Most Auto makers follow Lean Manufacturing, Direct on Line or Just in time concepts. Now when suppliers location gets proclaimed as a Containment Zone at drop of a Hat, their supplies get stuck.

The situation exacerbates as Tier 1 Suppliers are dependent on Tier 2, Tier 3…Tier N Suppliers. Any one getting contained down the chain, the final supply to Auto makers gets affected. That vehicle booking gets cancelled at the Dealer end and thats trouble!

Resilient and Dynamic Supply Chains 

They become a need of the hour. There have to be back ups and redundancies at different locations as the Show Must Go On! This needs rethinking and fine tuning not just with the auto maker and Tier1 but across the supply chain. It goes beyond redundancies and covers automation, digitalisation, resource allocation & real time coordination and sharing.

Coming together and working as “One Industry, One Family” thereby becomes a pre requisite.

Continue reading “Auto Industry has its Doors & Arms Wide Open during Covid Era”

by Anuj Guglani, CEO, World Auto Forum

Corona means different things to different folks round the world.

On one hand, you have a few defiant industrialists who complain India got the strictest and an unwanted lockdown so early on, just to be opened up and eased out with rising cases. On the other, we have Mukesh Ambani raising US$ 7 billion from Global Investors during the same Period. Period!

There are developed nations of the west emulating Anti Covid measures of the Govt of India, of which many we began more than 2 months back.

You have the upper middle & elite class go overboard on cooking, baking, partying, binge netflixing, zooming and you have migrant workers walking 200 km without food and much water and collapsing on the roadside to die, including pregnant women.

There are companies donating to PM Cares fund and the same ones also firing their own employees citing, ‘No Money’. The law of the land allows these companies to donate their CSR Fund but stops them to use the same funds for paying salaries and if done, company directors can face arrest, prosecution and ouster! Ha ha ! Do we really need Kapil Sharma to make us laugh?

Continue reading “Corona and Zorba the Buddha”

1. We have never ever faced anything like this ever before. Straight from a Hollywood Movie! How do we all come together to fix and rebuild ?

2. When the Challenge is a global one , EV is a Global phenomenon , the process to kickstart EV Revolution can also be a “Global One” ?

Continue reading “WAF Gurus Live 5 : How to resume EV Revolution Post Lockdown”

1. The SC Order on BS4 Extension and the confusion around it ( We can discuss it without getting sued for contempt :).   )

2.  When was the last time we were in a lockdown like this ? Any Learnings though the world would have been very different then..

3.  Consumer Sentiment & Industry Sentiment  : How to rebuild ?

4. How to Rebuild with Govt & Industry Partnerships ?

5.  How to Kickstart Economy / Industry  Revival when things get Normal. How would we define and Qualify ‘The New Normal’ ?

Continue reading “WAF Gurus Live : How to Manage During & After the Lockdown at the Automotive Industry.”