Multi-Billion Dollar Global Automotive Supplier Engages aPriori to Meet Cost Targets

With 13,000 employees in 18 countries, the company is a leading provider of door modules, control systems, and window regulators.

In a highly competitive environment, controlling costs is critical to gaining an advantage. This company faced several challenges, including:

• Difficulty setting accurate target costs during the design phase
• Limited visibility into manufacturability and associated cost drivers
• Supplier negotiations, particularly in some areas of Asia
• Design engineer cost driver unawareness

Initial discussions were with the company’s purchasing executive. Subsequently, one of their new senior executive board members, an aPriori user in his previous company, which is one of aPriori’s largest Asian customers, accelerated the engagement. aPriori’s value proposition resonated strongly with the company’s leadership, including its CEO, and aligned well with their challenges and strategic goals.

aPriori addresses these issues by providing timely, region-specific industry cost insights, while also supporting this company’s internal standards and processes. The company plans to leverage aPriori to:

• Improve target cost setting and cost driver visibility
• Enhance design and manufacturability knowledge
• Empower global supplier negotiation and management
• Achieve overall speed to market

With aPriori’s cost engineering insights, you can quickly generate accurate estimates through advanced cost models, using three levels of automation to boost profitability. Benefits include:

• Accurate cost evaluation for various parts/assemblies for more savings opportunities
• Actionable cost reduction strategies for informed “make vs. buy” decisions
• Product development bottleneck removal, including reducing engineering change orders (ECOs)
• Detailed cost driver insights from design to production
• Cost modeling efficiency
• Fact-based negotiations to reduce costs
• Cost, sustainability, and manufacturability optimization

This engagement is a compelling example of how executive alignment and clearly demonstrated value can accelerate adoption, even in traditionally longer-cycle markets like Japan.