The Strategic Value of Information in the RFQ Response Process

Full Description:

The gestation of a new component made by an automotive supplier typically begins with a Request For Quotation (RFQ) being issued by the supplier’s customer, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The supplier typically has about two weeks to submit its response. The complex set of decisions made during this two-week period has perhaps the largest impact on the supplier’s bottom line of any business function it performs. The supplier’s response to the RFQ will define a business relationship between it and its OEM customer for perhaps five years or more. In order for both firms to be successful, and for both to realize the full benefits of the business contract into which they’ve entered, it is imperative that the supplier RFQ response process be well informed and carefully executed.