Volvo Trucks Takes Part in White House Supply Chain Innovation Initiative
Volvo took part in a White House supply chain innovation initiative July 9, highlighting the Virginia factory where its North American trucks are built.
The head of truck cab and vehicle assembly for Volvo Group in the Americas, Patrick Collignon, met with White House officials during a supply chain innovation round table to discuss collaboration and leveraging federal assets to strengthen small manufacturers.
The manufacturer discussed its supply chain strategy of partnering with small businesses at its New River Valley plant.
Volvo has a strategy of “profitable proximity sourcing” and holds workshops to identify opportunities for Volvo and suppliers to work together to reduce waste, lead time and bottlenecks, Department of Commerce Chief Economist Susan Helper, who attended the event, wrote in a blog post.
“Volvo has developed tools and ways of working to create win-win opportunities for suppliers as well as our own business,” Colligon said in a statement.
The processes developed by Volvo’s program have resulted in $1 million in savings for its suppliers and $2 million for the manufacturer.
“Through these opportunities, we hope to see added value, less waste and increased performance of our supply chain to better meet the demand of our customers,” Collignon said.
Part of the success of the Volvo program is due to the Commerce Department’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Helper wrote, which held the initial supplier workshops with the company and helped Volvo “develop a model to improve supply chain visibility.”
The manufacturing program is scheduled to scale up from eight states to all 50 by the end of next year.
