"Ford and SynQuest teamed to develop a solution that has helped us better plan, develop and optimize the logistics network for production materials shipped to our assembly plants," said Frank Taylor, vp of material planning and logistics at Ford.
Ford is using SynQuest Inbound Planning software to examine its North American inbound distribution network and determine the delivery route schemes for every part at the lowest overall transportation cost, while supporting the just-in-time requirements of the Ford assembly plants. The new logistics design resulted in a reduction in the number of routes, trips and total miles and increased overall truck and trailer utilization.
Ford’s North American logistics network includes 21 assembly plants being served by 4,000 suppliers through 4,500 shipments per day involving 46,000 parts.
