There is undoubtedly something to the interest in better casting and faster chip removal. One aspect is that HLI, like all suppliers, is under pressure to reduce cost, and it was determined that e-commerce can help in that undertaking. Secondly, it was deemed important to show shareholders that HLI understands that e-commerce is an important capability. Richard L. Radecki, corporate director, E-Business, noted that he's not a technical guy, having had several positions in his decades' long career in the industry, including director of marketing and customer development. Employee self-service Radecki explained that Delphi is running a series of pilot programs in order to comparatively quickly determine viability.
Speed is essential.
Right now, automotive suppliers and manufacturers are on a journey that has no map. There is no industry history on which we can base decisions. There isn't a lot of that reliable data or proven results on which we've always relied. So those of us working at automotive suppliers and manufacturers today are faced with navigating our industry into a new era. The old way of dealing with an issue of this type might have been to just stock up on large inventories, which, DeHart explained, was unacceptable, in that they are working to be a lean supplier.