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Delphi Honored for Innovative Supply-Chain Management System

23 September 1999

Delphi Honored for Innovative Supply-Chain Management System

    BALTIMORE, Sept. 22 -- Delphi Automotive Systems
reinforced its reputation as the industry's leading supply-chain management
provider by earning the "Excellence in Logistics" award from Transportation &
Distribution magazine.
    In a ceremony held here yesterday, the magazine's editors declared Delphi
a "new breed of supplier to the automotive industry."  The company was
selected for its innovative supply system that delivers fully assembled
modular cockpits to Mercedes-Benz U.S. International's (MBUSI) assembly plant
in Tuscaloosa, Ala., just-in-time and sequenced-in-line.  The cockpits are
installed into the M-Class all-activity vehicles.
    The Excellence in Logistics Award ceremony was held in conjunction with
the Supply Chain Excellence Conference, Sept. 21-23.  Delphi was among six
winners of the award, which for the ninth year honors companies for best
practices in logistics.  Transportation & Distribution is published in
Cleveland by Penton Media, Inc.
    Chris Duda, Delphi customer manager, MBUSI, and Ed Manusakis, manager,
production control and logistics, Tuscaloosa Service Center, accepted the
award on Delphi's behalf.
    "It is quite an honor to be recognized by our production control and
logistics peers for our efforts in supply-chain management," Manusakis said.
"By working with our divisional production control and logistics group, we
were able to design a system to manage the supply chain at world-class
inventory levels.  This system supports our manufacturing build, test,
sequence and delivery process and allows for Mercedes to install a finished
cockpit assembly into a vehicle in just 120 minutes from the time we receive
the order."
    Duda said Delphi has implemented a long-term and short-term ordering
system, and a first-in, first-out material supply philosophy to maintain the
world-class inventory level.  Delphi's Tuscaloosa Service Center's year-to-
date inventory turn rate through August was 74.94, exceeding the world-class
level, generally considered to be 25 to 30 inventory turns.
    "This lean system, coupled with a 46-member supplier base that understands
and performs to our delivery and quality requirements for components, helps
make us the global benchmark for modular assembly," Duda said.
    The Tuscaloosa Service Center began supplying completely assembled cockpit
modules to MBUSI in January 1997.  A cockpit module is comprised of the cross-
car beam, steering column, passenger-side air bag, heating/ventilating/air
conditioning unit, wiring harness, upper and lower instrument panels, gage
cluster, electronic switches and trim bezel.  Delphi assembles a cockpit from
180 components into 8,000 possible combinations.
    Other companies selected for Transportation & Distribution's 1999
Excellence in Logistics Award were Best Buy Company, DaimlerChrysler Corp.,
Industrial Negromex S.A., Jostens, and Motors & Armatures.  There are more
than 40 previous winners, including Chrysler Corp. (now known as
DaimlerChrysler), Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Hewlett Packard, Mobil Oil
Corp., and Procter & Gamble.
    Delphi Automotive Systems, with headquarters in Troy, Mich., USA, is a
world leader in automotive component and systems technology.  Delphi's three
business sectors -- Dynamics & Propulsion; Safety, Thermal & Electrical
Architecture; and Electronics & Mobile Communications -- provide comprehensive
product solutions to complex customer needs.  Delphi has approximately 201,000
employees and operates 168 wholly owned manufacturing sites, 51 customer
centers and sales offices, and 27 technical centers in 36 countries.  Regional
headquarters are located in Paris, Tokyo and Sao Paulo.  Delphi can be found
on the Internet at http://www.delphiauto.com .