Technology Management: Best Practises Of The South African Automotive Supplier Industry

There is tremendous pressure on automotive original equipment manufacturers to deliver innovative vehicles with high quality as efficiently as possible, which result in demanding requirements for its suppliers. Theory suggests that companies should adopt management of technology principles to align their business and technology strategies.The study evaluated the competitiveness of a target population of South African automotive suppliers in the initial stages of their product lifecycle in relation to the global automotive supplier industry best practise. It is an exploratory study involving multiple case studies to determine whether South African automotive suppliers make technology investments based on pressures from the Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), their multinational holding companies or their own business strategic alignment. The study contributed a benchmarking model of best practises focussed on collaboration, knowledge management, supplier integration, people and program management, IT infrastructure, requirements management, product design and manufacturing production. The benchmark determined which best practises the target population implemented and exposed a lack of technology strategies from a product centric point of view. The first-tier automotive suppliers involved in this study have very strong processes and practises backed by lots of experience and could most benefit from technology enablers for collaboration, knowledge management, people and program management, and supplier integration.