{"id":43834,"date":"2026-09-30T12:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merlinsourcing.com\/?p=43834"},"modified":"2026-10-01T12:50:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T12:50:04","slug":"automotive-sourcing-how-to-balance-cost-quality-capacity-and-supply-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merlinsourcing.com\/de\/blog\/automotive-sourcing-how-to-balance-cost-quality-capacity-and-supply-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Automotive Sourcing: How to Balance Cost, Quality, Capacity and Supply Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Automotive sourcing<\/a> is often measured by the most visible number in the sourcing event: the supplier quote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

That number is also one of the easiest ways to make the wrong decision. A lower piece price can be offset by higher logistics costs, tooling requirements, poor yield, capacity constraints, quality incidents, engineering support, inventory exposure, or an overdependence on a supplier with limited financial or geographic resilience. In a high-volume vehicle program, even a minor weakness in one of these areas can become a material cost or continuity problem once production begins.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The goal is a supply arrangement that meets the program’s cost target while remaining technically capable, commercially viable, and operationally resilient throughout the program lifecycle. That means the sourcing strategy starts with the component, the program, and the supply market, rather than with the sourcing event. An RFQ or an eAuction is a mechanism, and even a negotiated price is not necessarily a sourcing outcome.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The strategic decisions come first: what the supply base needs to look like, what should be competed and what should be negotiated, where supplier differentiation matters, where price competition creates value, and where paying a premium is justified by the risk it removes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Note: All figures in this blog are illustrative examples only.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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