Needle pinch down the automotive industry, more than 200 models discontinued? The truth about Schaeffler's stockout crisis is …
On the afternoon of the 18th, the news that Schaeffler was forced to suspend production due to environmental problems spread quickly throughout the automotive industry. Schaeffler asked the Shanghai government for a grace period of three months to avoid greater losses due to needle supply interruptions. It is reported that Schaeffler's suspension of production may cause 300 billion losses to 49 OEMs.
Dr. Zhang Yilin, CEO of Schaeffler Group Greater China, turned to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economics and Information Technology, Pudong New Area Government and Jiading District Government for help in opening up environmental protection issues for Shanghai Jielong Metal Wire Drawing Co., Ltd. On the one hand, the grace period is 3 months, so as not to cause greater losses due to needle supply interruption.
Will a small bearing needle cause a cataclysm in the automotive industry? Will it even cause Chinese cars to reduce production by 3 million units and lose 300 billion yuan? Recently, an "emergency help letter" issued by a component company predicted a "butterfly effect" in the automotive industry and pushed the component industry chain of China's automotive industry to a vulnerable "fragile" position.
On September 18, an "emergency help letter" signed "Schaeffler Group Greater China CEO Zhang Yilin" shocked the entire automotive industry. The letter used the tone of "100,000 rushes" to explode a big incident-the company's only supplier of needle roller raw materials, "Shanghai Jielong Metal Wire Drawing Factory", was environmentally responsible for the local authorities since September 10, 2017. The implementation of "power outages, production demolition and related equipment" has been implemented, so that its assembly products face the risk of stockouts.
The letter stated: "Through the investigation of relevant customers, it was found that the out of stock of the needle roller will cause more than 200 models of 49 auto OEMs to be completely discontinued from September 19. Among them, SAIC-GM-Cadillac produced in Pudong Several models of the Buick brand will bear the brunt, such as Cadillac ATS, XT5 and CT6, and Buick New Regal, New Regal, New GL8. In addition, SAIC Roewe's RX5 will also face production suspension. "
In addition to the "SAIC" that was highlighted, Schaeffler also pointed out that its customers are all over China's auto manufacturers, such as SAIC-GM, SAIC-Volkswagen, SAIC, FAW-Volkswagen, Changan Ford, Changan Automobile, Great Wall Motor, Geely Automobiles, Beijing Benz, BMW Brilliance, etc., as well as a large number of primary and secondary component suppliers, such as Bosch, Continental, SAIC, etc. The implication is that most Chinese OEMs will be implicated by this incident.
"Since Schaeffler enjoys proprietary technology and exclusive supply on many assembly products, if it switches to a new supplier, it takes at least about 3 months for technical quality approval and mass production preparation time. Roller pin supply The gap is estimated to be more than 1,500 tons. In theory, this will cause a reduction in the production of more than 3 million vehicles in China, which is equivalent to a loss of 300 billion yuan in output value, and the situation is desperate. " "The reduction of more than 3 million vehicles and the loss of 300 billion yuan." Once such an astonishing figure exploded, public opinion was exploded in just a few hours.
The letter of help was autographed by Zhang Yilin, CEO of Schaeffler Group Greater China, and a mobile phone number was left. However, reporters from the Economic Observation Network have repeatedly made calls without answering them. The text messages sent to this number have not been answered so far.
As an auto company that was emphasized by the letter, SAIC GM responded to Economic Observation Network for the first time and said: "This is true, but SAIC-GM's Cadillac and Buick models have adequate production preparation plans. Will be affected by this matter. It is reported that because Schaeffler has already informed the existence of the supply risk in advance, the company has taken measures last week, the company has a backup plan, don't worry. "A person in the public relations department of Changan Automobile Also told reporters: "We have a plan and will not be affected, thank you for your concern."
According to the help letter, Schaeffler had considered finding a replacement supplier, but as stated in the above letter, "If there is a quality problem, it may lead to safety hazards such as the automatic transmission bursting, and no OEM will allow us Using a supplier that is not technically recognized and certified by the quality system, according to the product recall law, even if someone is forced to use it, it must be recalled immediately. "
In this regard, the person in charge of the relevant transmission plant of SAIC confirmed the news at the same time that "the needle is a standard part, and Jielong's products do not have irreplaceable technological advancement." But the person also said: "Key issues The reason is that every component needs to follow SAIC's quality standard system and endurance test and other related procedures, so substitutes are not quickly found. "The source revealed that OEMs can generally maintain a full 1.5-2 months of integration. Vehicle inventory is currently unaffected.
It is precisely because the replacement of the needle supplier requires a certain product test period, so Schaeffler hoped that the relevant departments could allow 3 months of switching time in the letter of assistance. "The Schaeffler Group urges the relevant departments to allow Jielong to continue to provide them with cold drawn wire services for 3 months without violating relevant environmental protection laws and regulations to ensure the necessary preparation time for the supplier to switch."
However, the industry's reaction to such a "major" incident is indifferent. Although most media have followed up and issued "warnings", from the perspective of many vehicle manufacturers, things are not so "thriller."
"A key component supplier of any large car company cannot lock up one, and there can be no spare suppliers." An insider of a domestic car company who asked not to be named said. Schaeffler proactively exposed the media in the form of a help letter, which had its last resort, but it was exaggerated, which caused a panic atmosphere in the industry when a component factory was shut down and the entire Chinese car factory was about to stop. In particular, it disclosed specific product information including the affected Cadillac and Roewe models. SAIC-GM is the backbone of the Shanghai automobile industry. Schaeffler originally intended to use this to put pressure on the environmental protection department of Shanghai Pudong New Area, but this is obviously normal for SAIC-GM. The operation brought interference, especially the products involved in Cadillac, Buick and Roewe were SAIC-GM's hot-selling luxury car models, main joint venture products and SUV models of independent brands. This news will make consumers or related investors more or less concerned about SAIC-GM's product supply. This has to let the car companies have a kind of other party's binding hype, but make themselves "lay the gun" discomfort.
In view of the huge public opinion effect brought by this incident, Schaeffler urgently stated in its official WeChat account on the night of September 18: In order to avoid causing losses to customers after receiving the notice of the suspension of Jielong Company on September 11, Schaeffler has contacted and communicated with customers, governments, suppliers and other parties as soon as possible, and has now mobilized global resources to properly handle supply chain issues. At present, its impact on the vehicle production of OEMs can be controlled.
From "out of control" to "controllable", but only a few hours. The statement was considered a remedy for Schaeffler's first letter, aimed at eliminating the effects of panic on its customers. However, if Schaeffler's control of supplier risks is not taken into consideration, it is also difficult to disassociate itself from the perspective of the environmental cause of the incident.
The reporter from Economic Observation Network learned that Jielong Metal Wire Drawing Co., Ltd. was established in 1993 with a registered capital of 17 million yuan. Its business scope is metal wire drawing and it is engaged in the import and export of goods and technology. Group Co., Ltd., which accounts for 10%.
However, the company has repeatedly encountered environmental problems, and this time it was not the first time it was punished. The reporter found that in the list of key regulated enterprises at the district level released by the Environmental Protection and Appearance and Sanitation Administration of Shanghai Pudong New Area on August 31, 2017, Jielong Metal Wire Drawing Co., Ltd. appeared in the list of "wastewater discharge" regulated enterprises, and There are also hundreds of companies including SAIC-GM, Shanghai Hitachi Electric Co., Ltd. and BASF New Materials Co., Ltd. In fact, as early as 2009, Shanghai Jielong Metal Wire Drawing Co., Ltd. has been a key regulated company. In June 2013, it was fined by the environmental protection department for violating the air pollution prevention and management system.
The core party of the event, Schaeffler, is a world-renowned first-tier supplier of the automotive industry headquartered in Germany. It ranked 19th in the 2017 Global Top 100 Auto Parts Suppliers List, and its supporting operating income in 2016 reached 10.8 billion The US dollar has also entered China for more than 20 years, with annual sales of 18 billion yuan and 12,000 employees.
Such a large international company has long been using environmentally tainted suppliers and has not developed alternative suppliers, which undoubtedly violates the industry taboo. When the environmental storm stormed into the automobile industry, Schaeffler's "out of stock crisis" became one of the epitome, and this incident no doubt sounded the alarm for the entire Chinese automobile industry.