Ford Motor Company spent $3.2 billion last year on products and services from minority-owned suppliers

By: John Fossen Ford Communications Network
Tony Brown, vice president, Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company.
WARREN -- Ford Motor Company spent $3.2 billion last year on products and services from minority-owned suppliers. That’s enough revenue for a single company to make the Fortune 500 list. And Tony Brown, Ford vice president of Global Purchasing, says he’d like to push the figure even higher.

“We have a number of people within Purchasing, Product Development, Manufacturing, Finance and Quality to help further develop minority suppliers,” Brown said. “This isn’t about altruism. It’s about economic empowerment and creating potential consumers for our products.”
Not every supplier employee will purchase a Ford Motor Company product, but it’s very likely that some of them will -- more so than might have otherwise, according to Brown. And that extends to residents whose local communities benefit from Ford’s minority supplier buys.

“If consumers view products as equal, and they also happen to know that one of the companies they might buy a vehicle from has a set of values that are consistent with their values, in terms of economic empowerment and enrichment, then we think that is a competitive advantage for Ford Motor Company,” explained Brown.

Ford is a member of the “Billion Dollar Roundtable” -- an exclusive association of 12 companies that have committed to sourcing $1 billion or more of products and services from minority-owned suppliers annually. Ford, General Motors and DaimleChrysler are the only automakers in the group.
Ford further established itself as a leader in minority-owned supplier purchases when it announced a new seating contract with Bridgewater Interiors. The multi-year agreement, worth more than $500 million annually, is the richest pact ever awarded by Ford to a minority-owned supplier, and most likely the richest in the history of the U.S. auto industry.

Bridgewater employees will make seating systems for the Ford F-150 to be built at the Dearborn Truck Plant and for the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles produced at the Michigan Truck Plant.
“For more than 25 years, our company has been developing a diverse supplier base, and even in these challenging times, this commitment continues,” said Brown.

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