Shaping the future of mobility Daimler

sHaping tHE FuturE oF moBiLity

Daimler is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. This position could not have been achieved without reliable suppliers and partners – a fact that is recognised by the Daimler Supplier Award, given each year in three categories for the best quality, partnership and innovation. Romana Moares reports.

Daimler AG is one of the world’s most successful automotive companies. With its Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses, and Daimler Financial Services divisions, the group is one of the leading global suppliers of premium cars and the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global presence. Daimler Financial Services offers financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance, investments and credit cards as well as innovative mobility services. The company founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history by inventing the automobile in 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, Daimler sees shaping the future of mobility in a safe and sustainable way as both a motivation and an obligation.

The company’s focus remains on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior vehicles that both captivate and inspire. Daimler continues to invest systematically in the development of efficient powertrains – from high-tech combustion engines and hybrid vehicles to all-electric powertrains using batteries or fuel cells – with the goal of making locally emission-free driving possible in the long term. The company’s efforts are also focused on the intelligent connectivity of its vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility concepts.

Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly every country of the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. The company is listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges (ticker symbol DAI). In 2017, it had a workforce of more than 289,300 and sold around 3.3 million vehicles. Revenues totalled €164.3 billion and EBIT stood at €14.7 billion.

Top award for top performance

Fostering supplier relationships is an integral part of Daimler’s success on the global stage – without trustworthy and reliable supply chain partners, the company could never have reached its current position. This will continue to be the case, as Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, recently confirmed at the 10th Daimler Supply Awards, honouring the Group’s suppliers for top quality, partnership and innovative strength: “Our company is entering the next chapter of mobility. I am confident that we will manage the transformation of Daimler AG successfully, because we have our suppliers at our side as partners!”

Daimler presents its Daimler Supplier Award once a year in recognition of above-average performance and partnership collaboration. On 28 February 2018, under the motto ‘Enter The Next Chapter’, the respective Daimler board of management members and heads of procurement presented the winners with their awards in the categories of Quality, Partnership and Innovation. The invitation to the Mercedes-Benz Customer Centre in Sindelfingen was accepted by 500 high-ranking guests from the supply industry and 150 Daimler AG executives.

Innovative software development for the sales experience of the future

Buying a car is one of the most important and exciting purchases for many customers. What makes a great buying experience? At the top of the list - trust and good advice. For the salesperson, this means paying careful attention to customer needs, not an IT system.

Future car owners want a dedicated contact throughout the process, they often do a lot of research before visiting the showroom. Plus, cars are increasingly complex. Automotive advances demand more and more technical expertise in the sales process.

What tools can we arm salespeople with to provide the sales experience of the future? That’s the specific challenge we tackle with Daimler. The result is a digital service platform that provides access to vital information so staff can spend less time on admin and research, and more time with customers. Think of it as a digital assistant that guides the sales process and can easily adapt to Daimler’s requirements as they evolve.

A global team spanning Germany, India, and China are designing the new system, known as one Touch Retail. The German team develops the product for the local market, working closely with colleagues in the India Delivery Centre to speed up development time. In parallel, ThoughtWorks China works on a solution that is tailor-made for the Chinese market. The team is cross-functional - designers, developers and domain experts work together to build a solution that blends business and user needs.

Quicker access to information and improved sales tools means more customer satisfaction. The successful partnership is made possible by bringing together the best of Daimler’s deep sales acumen and Thoughtworks’ agile software development approach.

Quality, Partnership, Innovation

The 10th Daimler Supplier Awards saw the following winners. In the Mercedes-Benz Cars Procurement and Supplier Quality category: Wagon Automotive Nagold GmbH – Award for reliable partnership with exceptional quality and high flexibility for body shell parts (Quality); Minth International Ltd – Award for outstanding efforts towards a transparent partnership based on mutual trust, and for commitment to overcoming technological and business challenges (Partnership); and Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd – Award for its highly creative and dependable contribution to the electrification of the MercedesBenz product portfolio (Innovation).

In the category of International Procurement Services, the following companies were awarded: Werkzeugbau Laichingen GmbH – awarded as a longstanding partner for press tools that makes shortened vehicle development times possible while mastering increasing product complexity (Quality); Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co., Ltd – awarded for its outstanding and longstanding partnership as an assembler of MB cars in Thailand (Partnership); and Thoughtworks Software Technologies (Chengdu), Ltd – awarded for its outof-the-box approaches in the area of app and software development (Innovation).

And last but not least, in the Global Procurement Trucks and Buses category, the award went to Tri-Ring Group Corporation – Award for the excellent quality of forged components supplied (Quality); Stoneridge, Inc. – Award for the international roll-out of ‘instrument clusters’ at FUSO, Freightliner & Mercedes-Benz Trucks (Partnership); and DENSO – Award for the first introduction to the world of driver camera monitoring systems in FUSO commercial vehicles (Innovation). A special Award for Innovation was given to Harman International Industries, Inc., for exceptional software development and integration as well as future-oriented collaboration models for the realisation of MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience).

In his speech at the event, Wilfried Porth, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, Human Resources and Director of Labour Relations, Mercedes-Benz Vans, emphasised the strongcollaboration with suppliers: “A close and trusting cooperation with our suppliers is the basis for short allocation periods and rapid implementation of procurement decisions.” Dieter Zetsche thanked the suppliers for their outstanding cooperation, their loyalty and their commitment. “Let us start the next chapter together,” he concluded.