Case 3.1 Supplier relationships at Trico
This case study was prepared by Dr Peter Hines, Lean Enterprise Research Centre,
Cardiff Business School.
Pontypool lies at the threshold of economic prosperity. Its history of coal
and steel is giving way to a bright future based on new innovative firms
such as automotive component supplier Trico. This manufacturer of car
wipers moved to Pontypool in 1992 from its previous London location. In
order to succeed it needed a modern factory with world-class production
facilities and methods, a new organizational culture and a better supplier
base. This entailed building a new site and new relationships with its work
force and suppliers.
A visitor to Trico’s site will be struck by three things before reaching their
respective meeting room. First, the number of quality awards from world-
class companies displayed in the reception, taking up a complete wall.
Second, the open-plan, uncluttered offices that exude an aura of calmness
and efficiency. Third, at every turn of a corner, up-to-date notice boards
displaying before and after Polaroid photographs of the surrounding work
areas. It is hard not to be impressed.
It is usually not long before visitors are invited to look round the shop
floor. The same sense of space, efficiency and order is the immediate
impression. Notice boards abound with similar before and after photo-
graphs of the respective work areas. The same is true in the stores and tool-
room areas. Again, the visitor can see that this company is doing the right
things. But was this always the case?
This is their story.
How it all started
Three factors are responsible for what the visitor can see today. The first
and most important of these was the move from London in 1992. This
move allowed Trico the opportunity to rethink both its internal processes
and the way it dealt with its suppliers. It enabled them to start the devel-
opment of a new internal culture as well as a re-focusing of the product
range and the make-or-buy decision process. This was fundamental to the
change one sees today at Trico.
The second, some time later, was the launch of the Welsh Automotive
Supplier Association by Rover and the Welsh Development Agency’s
Source Wales division. The third was their first meeting with Paul Morris, a
consultant from a company called Supplier Association Partners, who was
project managing the Supplier Association programme for Source Wales.
In late 1993 Trico, along with 22 of Rover’s other strategic suppliers in
182 Relationship Marketing