Increased in-office work requirements helped propel improved supplier relations for the first time in 26 years for all six major automakers included in an annual index.
Southfield-based accounting firm Plante Moran conducted the Working Relations Index survey that was taken from March 3 to April 17 and included 750 responses this year. Ford Motor Co. saw the largest increase in its supplier relations, though Toyota Motor Corp. continued to have the best relationships with its suppliers.
The increase across companies, though, is somewhat surprising, given that a new presidential administration bringing changes in trade policy, shifts in electric vehicle priorities and foreign conflicts could create the conditions for tense pricing negotiations, said Angela Johnson, principal in Plante Moran’s automotive and mobility consulting practice.
“What you see in here is an increase in all the things you get when people collaborate face-to-face,” Johnson said. “Hey, I can solve issues faster. My knowledge went up. All of those great things went up in the past year. And then you start to see this piece of the pie getting better, because this piece of the pie got better.”
Automakers can’t make a vehicle without their suppliers, so relationships with those partners are critical — especially at a time of “perma-crisis fatigue” where purchasing departments have faced challenge after challenge over the past few years, Johnson said. Improvement on the index correlates with better financial performance, she said. Additionally, better supplier relations can result in better product quality, less downtime in the event of a supply challenge and an improved product launch experience, she said.
On the index out of 500, Toyota topped the list at 409, an improvement of 23 points, surpassing 400 for the first time since 2007 and yielding its second-highest score ever (it reached 415 in 2005 and 2007).
That increase was second only to Ford, which improved by 32 points. However, its score of 223 left it remaining in the “very poor to poor” part of the index and fifth of six automakers included. It was its second-largest jump, tied with 2010. In 2009, Ford’s results jumped 41 points.
Ford increased requirements for white-collar workers to work out of the office to four days per week in September. They saw the largest gains in automaker accessibility, communication and trust, including in Liz Door, Ford’s chief supply chain officer.
“I’d always told them they were a little bit of a death by 1,000 little cuts,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t one thing that they needed to go address. They had to go address a lot of things, and they did. What I could see in their data was they got out there, they opened up the door, they started listening, they started engaging with their supply base, they’re trying to be more consistent.”
Johnson noted the company introduced a two-way supplier scorecard that she thinks will help in transparency and with clear expectations. Continuing to offer predictability and consistency will be important for further improvement, Johnson said.
General Motors Co. was third at 318, an improvement of eight points to its highest results ever, behind Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and above Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. GM’s results continued improvement seen the past several years, though some weaknesses in supply chain resiliency and certain other initiatives remain, Johnson said. Consistency is key for improvement, she added.
“Last year I told you that they really started to turn a tide,” she said. “From a data perspective, you can see that they have officially rounded the corner from being very transactional relations to being more collaborative like Toyota and Honda.”
Since January 2024, GM has required employees to work in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“A strong relationship takes both sides to be successful,” Shilpan Amin, GM’s global chief procurement and supply chain officer, said in a statement. “Our demonstrated record of improvement underscores why GM and our supply base are among the best in the industry. There is always room for improvement, so we look forward to continuing to work with our suppliers to raise the bar.”
Chrysler and Jeep parent Stellantis NV was last at 163, up 22 points following new leadership at the transatlantic automaker. The company saw the highest gain in supplier profit opportunity, and it was the only automaker to post an increase in supplier perceptions of sharing savings.
In March 2025, Stellantis called employees to return to on-site work three to five days per week and increased the requirement to five days for all at the end of March.
“They not only focused on the behaviors,” Johnson said, “but they took a real hard look at how they were presenting themselves from that transactional level, that accountability and fairness.”
Johnson even saw the more positive perceptions reflected in how suppliers filled out the survey: She added three more open-ended questions to the survey for a total of 10. Expecting a fractional increase in responses, she received a three-fold increase this year where she noticed less ranting and more thoughtful discussions behind the scores given, explanations of what matters to the suppliers and a more collaborative-minded tone.
“We are recognizing more and more there are a lot of things in their (automakers’) control that they can do to help the suppliers along the way,” Johnson said. “Everyone’s trying to address tariffs or trying to address cost recovery. We might not be getting the result we want, but they’re taking the meeting, they’re listening to us, they’re implementing processes, and I think that’s what’s behind those upticks.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
@BreanaCNoble
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Less remote work propels automakers in supplier relations, study says
Reporting by Breana Noble, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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