Tata Motors’ Jamshedpur plant head SB Borwankar said that is becoming difficult to keep a tab on quality standards and costs of its existing vendor network.“We have to reduce our vendor base from the existing 700-800 to around 250-300,” said Borwankar.
Tata Motors last year initiated a ‘mentorship’ programme for its local vendors here under which senior officers of the company were to guide vendors in the areas of bringing about improvement in processes and quality of their products.
Borwankar said that acting upon Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant’s suggestion of cutting down the vendor base, the company has thought of a three-tier vendor format.
As per the proposed arrangement, while tier III suppliers will be supplying material/products to tier II vendors, the latter will supply those belonging to tier I, who in turn will supply finished product to the company. Thus, those who make parts (tier III vendors) will supply the products to sub-assembly producers (tier II vendors), and they will give it to main assembly producers (tier I vendors).
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