FCA US recently celebrated its commitment to supplier diversity at the 20th-annual MatchMaker event through a series of high-impact engagements with more than 250 minority-, women-, veteran- and LGBT-owned businesses.
“As we mark 20 years of MatchMaker, we’re also pioneering a new supplier diversity initiative to ensure inclusion and opportunity are available to everyone,” said Scott Thiele, head of purchasing and supply chain management, FCA North America and vice chair of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC). “Together with the MMSDC, I’m proud to help lead a program that is advocating for minority-owned businesses and growing a stronger pipeline of companies who can meet current and future supply chain needs.”
Launched in 2019, the MMSDC “Collaborative Growth Initiative” includes nine automakers and suppliers working together with 18 minority-owned businesses to define, measure and facilitate sustainable sourcing opportunities in the indirect/non-production commodity space. The goal is to ensure strategic business growth.
During the two-day MatchMaker program, FCA US offered free business seminars where Google, Alderney Advisors and supplier.io covered topics such as social media marketing, developing long-term financial strategies, working with customs organizations and refining reporting practices. Business resource group, Women’s Alliance, hosted the second-annual “W2W Mixer,” where women-owned businesses networked with the top female leadership at FCA US.
FCA US also welcomed business leaders from the east side of Detroit as part of the company’s commitment to help build a more vibrant future for the community, where the first new assembly plant in the city of Detroit will be built in nearly 30 years.
Since 1983, the company has purchased nearly $80 billion from minority-, women- and veteran-owned suppliers. FCA US spent $9 billion with more than 300 diverse suppliers in 2018.
FCA US supplier diversity goals require that up to 8.5 percent of a Tier 1 supplier’s buy be sourced to certified minority-owned businesses, three percent sourced with women-owned businesses and one percent sourced with veteran-owned businesses. The company provides advocacy and consulting services to certified LGBT-owned and disability-owned suppliers.
In 2018, FCA US received the following honors for its supplier diversity efforts:
• Best Tier II Program from the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council;
• Corporation of the Year from the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce;
• Best-in-Class for Excellence in Supplier Diversity from the Great Lakes Women Business Council;
• Top Corporation Gold from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council; and
• Advocate of the Year from the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The company recently earned meaningful acknowledgement of its diversity leadership when the editors of the respected DiversityIncmagazine named FCA US to the magazine’s 2019 list of “Noteworthy Companies for Diversity” for the 11th year and to the list of “Top Companies for Veterans” for the third year in a row.
