Having included localization in its short and medium-term strategies, Tofaş works together with suppliers and young innovative firms accordingly.

Having included localization in its short and medium-term strategies, Tofaş works together with suppliers and young innovative firms in the production especially of high added-value electrical, electronic, and mechatronic components. These collaborations not only contribute to Tofaş’s own growth and development but also support the company’s business-partner suppliers in their efforts to be more competitive and to gain access to global markets.

Connected Supplier

“Connected Supplier” is Tofaş’s name for a process in which suppliers are supported by means of digital projects that bring Tofaş, existing suppliers, and young innovative firms together. Improvements made in the Connected Supplier process last year resulted in 250 new ideas being put forth and the commissioning of 70 projects that had been identified as being feasible.

AN EXTENSIVE AND COMPLEX SUPPLY CHAIN

Tofaş works with an extensive and complex supply chain from which, in the main, it procures preformed sheet metal components, forged & cast machined components, mechanical & electromechanical components, electrical installments, molded plastic and rubber components, seats, door panels, vehicle glass, glove compartments, bumpers, mufflers, chemicals, interior & exterior trim, and connectors. In order to ensure and support the continuity of its manufacturing operations, Tofaş also engages in a broad range of service and other procurements such as capital goods and related services, contractor services, maintenance & repair services, training & consultancy services, hardware and services. Owing to the importance of supply-chain continuity, a multifaceted risk-management approach is prioritized in the conduct of purchasing processes and of supplier relations.

IMPROVEMENTS IN PROCUREMENT PROCESSES

Whenever Tofaş considers the procurements aspects of its new projects, it gives particular attention to acquiring the latest technological abilities for the Turkish automotive industry on the one hand and to boosting its own competitive strength on the other. In line with this, Tofaş encourages international firms that are global manufacturers of automotive components to invest in Turkey or to enter into joint ventures with local suppliers.

Some international firms are being encouraged to invest in Turkey themselves and/or to enter into joint ventures with local suppliers.

The Procurements Department continues its efforts to increase competitiveness by simplifying business processes using up-to-date methods and through their digital transformation. In line with this, Robotic Process Automation projects related to Tofaş’s operational processes were commissioned in 2020.

Robotic process automation

The Procurements Department continues its efforts to increase competitiveness by simplifying business processes using up-to-date methods and through their digital transformation. In line with this, eight Robotic Process Automation (RPA) projects related to Tofaş’s operational processes were commissioned in 2021.

Prospective Supplier Application Portal

A Tofaş Prospective Supplier Application Portal that was opened in 2021 allows firms wishing to become a Tofaş supplier to submit their applications online. By keeping a digital record of such applications, the platform makes it possible for both suppliers and Tofaş to explore and evaluate new business opportunities.

Industrial Cost Effectiveness Project

Tofaş’s Industrial Cost Effectiveness (ICE) project was initiated in 2021 with the aims both of developing its submanufacturing suppliers’ understanding and appreciation of cost-effectiveness and of incorporating their ideas into cost-optimization processes. Proposal-related ideas submitted through the ICE system by the suppliers who made the proposals are collected and compiled by the system and used as input for cost-optimization.

GREEN PROCUREMENT

Tofaş’s Green Procurement efforts are grounded in a philosophy both of fostering a culture of sustainability through the company’s supply chain and of drawing attention to products and services whose environmental impact is lower. The goals of the Green Procurement program are to reduce the environmental impact of Tofaş’s suppliers’ production and service-provision processes, to improve its suppliers overall environmental performance, and to help reduce environmental risks.

Tofaş plans to formulate an Environmental & Social Control Mechanisms Policy for its suppliers in 2022 with the aims of creating action plans for the environmental & social auditing of all of its domestic direct-materials suppliers and of completing such audits by 2025. By 2030 Tofaş also aims to have increased the CDP-solicited response rate to climate-change and water-security questionnaires among its domestic direct-materials suppliers to at least 10% and to have reduced the carbon footprint of its supply chain by 55% as per the Paris Agreement.

In pursuit of its Green Procurement objectives, Tofaş has selected seven firms which together account for 40% of all the waste created, 30% of all the water used, and 25% of all the carbon emissions generated by its entire supply chain. As a result of visits made to these suppliers’ premises and of the subsequent analyses of current-situation findings, 55 technical projects involving 45 method- and operation-improvement opportunities and a total of 104 actions for improving environmental-impact and energy-efficiency performance were identified. As of 2021, 75% of these actions had been completed and improvements of up to 50%–especially in environmental performance–had been achieved.

SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT

In the conduct of all of its procurements operations, Tofaş focuses on establishing and maintaining business-partner relationships while making efforts to help its suppliers to enhance their performance in many different areas such as product design, organizational and technical improvements, quality, cost-improvement, physical and financial risk mitigation, manufacturing process improvement, collective procurement, and sustainability. Tofaş’s primary goal is to create a proactive and autonomous procurements process.

Since 2009, Tofaş has been encouraging its suppliers to take part in the World Class Supplier (WCS) program, which involves employing WCM methods in the conduct of their own operations. As of end-2021, Tofaş was working with a total of sixteen suppliers who conducting their operations subject to all WCM rules and procedures and eleven whose operations were compatible with core WCM requirements. In the Stellantis’s WCM ranking of the hundreds of suppliers with which it works globally, four of Tofaş’s domestic suppliers are in the top eleven and have attained “Bronze” status. The top firm in the same list is also a supplier that Tofaş supports.

GoTECH Technology Summit

In line with the Connect Supplier/Digital Transformation strategy that was formulated in 2019, a GoTECH Technology Summit is held every year. The 2021 summit provided still more opportunities to create synergies among domestic technology providers, young innovative firms, and suppliers.

Predictive Supplier Initiative

Under Tofaş’s Predictive Supplier Initiative, robust solutions are created to reactively deal with defects while machine-learning technology based on parameter-tracking and forecasting input is used at process points where defects occur. During 2021, solutions were developed at four suppliers for six different processes while 19 projects were undertaken at eight suppliers and desired levels of defect-prevention were achieved in the components involved.

Digital maturity assessment

To support the digitalization efforts and processes of its suppliers, Tofaş began measuring the value-adding and digital-maturity levels of its suppliers in a project undertaken jointly with the Turkish Metal Industries Employers’ Association’s MEXT Technology Center.

Ever since the day it was founded, Tofaş has always given great importance to increasing localization and to reducing import-dependency in the Turkish automotives industry. As of 2021, 75% of the company’s direct materials were domestically sourced and Tofaş’s goal is to increase that percentage to 90% by 2030.