Supplier Diversity Development

Ford remains strongly committed to utilizing and developing supplier companies that are owned by minorities and women. Our Supplier Diversity Development office works with business leaders, trade associations and community-based organizations that represent the interests of diverse businesses.

Our annual goal is to source at least 10 percent of U.S. purchases from minority- and women-owned businesses. In 2011, Ford purchased $5.08 billion in goods and services from approximately 250 minority-owned suppliers and $1.06 billion in goods and services from more than 150 women-owned businesses. Our 2011 results were an improvement over 2010, exceeding our sourcing goals for both minority- and women-owned suppliers.

Ford’s minority- and women-owned suppliers are also playing an important role in the Company’s revitalized and expanding portfolio of high-quality, safe, fuel-efficient products equipped with smart technologies. These opportunities have provided minority- and women-owned suppliers with new business valued at more than $661 million, during a period when purchasing budgets and the supply base were being downsized. Examples include the following:

• Abel Services, a women-owned construction supplier based in Louisville, Kentucky, was sourced significant business in 2011. As a result of being the primary construction contractor for the Ford Escape program at the Louisville Assembly Plant, Abel’s business increased by 161 percent compared to 2010. Also, Abel Services is the Construction Commodity Manager (CCM) for both Louisville and Kentucky Truck plants.
• Dura Automotive Systems, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, is owned by Lynn Tilton’s Patriarch Partners investment company. Dura, which makes a variety of control systems, engineered assemblies and other products, supplies the award-winning heated power rear sliding window for the F-150 pickup.
• Global Parts & Maintenance, a Hispanic business enterprise owned by Rudy Ureste and based in Westland, Michigan, provided consolidation and leveraging services for all of Ford’s U.S.-based plant floor computer hardware.
• Piston Automotive Group, an African-American-owned business owned by Vinnie Johnson and based in Michigan, has successfully diversified their product offerings and is now a strategic Ford supplier in both the production and nonproduction areas. Piston has teamed up with NetApp and is now the sole provider of Network Attached Storage at Ford.

Our record of minority supplier development has earned Ford a seat at the “Billion Dollar Roundtable,” an exclusive group of 17 companies that purchase a minimum of $1 billion annually from diverse suppliers. In addition, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named Ford to its Million Dollar Club for our work with Hispanic-owned businesses.

In October 2011, Ford was named “Corporation of the Year” by the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC). This was the second year in a row Ford received the award, which recognizes an automaker’s commitment to developing and growing a diverse supply base. Ford was named as one of America’s top corporations for its support of women-owned suppliers.

The Women’s Business Enterprise Council selected Ford for its 13th annual listing of America’s Top Corporations for Women’s Business Enterprises. This is the only national award honoring corporations for world-class programs that level the playing field for women’s business enterprises to compete for corporate business. Ford became the first automaker to earn top honors for supporting women-owned businesses.

Ford earned these awards for developing and driving innovative best practices across our organization that result in productive business partnerships with minority and women entrepreneurs and valuable products and services for their customers.

We are unwavering in our commitment to incremental year-over-year percentage increases in sourcing from diverse suppliers. We encourage similar actions across our supply chain. In 2011, more than 400 of our largest Tier 1 suppliers purchased $1.66 billion from minority- and women-owned enterprises in support of Ford business.