Ford, Expected to Place Large- scale Orders for Mold

Purchasing Group Visits Korea to Select Parts Supplier for 2008 New Model

The Ford Automotive Parts Purchasing Group,
comprised of purchasing chiefs and key engineers
of Ford, Visteon and TowerAutomotive of the U.S.
visited Korea on October 16. The week-long visit
was aimed at selecting molded parts supplier for
the new 2008 model. The Group made visits to the
shop floors and held consultation with 27 domestic
suppliers.

It is expected Ford to place the first order worth
over $10 million, with priority given to injection mold
for truck HVACs and transfer dies for the Lincoln
2008 model at the end of this year or early next
year through Visteon and TowerAutomotive.      

By visiting Australia before Korea, the Purchasing
Group will select the final supplier based on an assessment of suppliers from Australia, China and
Korea. But after an inspection of Korean major molding companies, the Group has evaluated these
companies to have both excellent facilities and equipment and technology skills. This translates into
a high possibility that Korean companies will be selected as final suppliers.

　
Ms. Krawczyk, the leader of Ford’s Purchasing Group, has stated that the group has found many parts
with competitiveness such as doors, lights and interior molding that they had originally not considered.
This indication of a broad range of parts sourcing from domestic suppliers has attracted much interest
from related industries.

Efforts to attract the Ford Purchasing Group to Korea have been underway for the last two years upon
the initiation of S.TRADE, the organizer of KOAAshow, and the support of Gyeonggi Province. It was in
response to Ford’s active pursuit of global sourcing, which was based on the assumption that its lower
competitiveness was due to the high cost of molds.