Ramifications of CAD/CAM on the automotive supplier community (Panel Session)

The automotive companies are striving for a totally integrated CAD/CAM environment as a major contribution to improved productivity and product. To the extent that suppliers are involved in the engineering/manufacturing process, they are an essential element of this integration process. Many of these suppliers already have CAD/CAM systems, most do not. From the perspective of the automotive industry, the challenge is to encourage the procurement and utilization of CAD/CAM systems while concurrently factoring in traditional sourcing practices. Suppliers, on the other hand, are often reluctant to make major purchases of CAD/CAM equipment without a commitment from their automotive customers that the equipment will be utilized. There have been instances where suppliers have procured CAD/CAM systems only to find that they were underutilized.