Jason Sandefur

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) implemented its Global Aftermarket Auto Parts Promotion (GAAP) project to help local suppliers secure OEM auto parts contracts. In addition to boosting sales of Taiwan-made aftermarket auto parts, TAITRA is promoting Taiwan products by inviting many international auto-parts buyers to Taiwan to link up with potential suppliers, Taiwan Economic News reports.
Officials from Kirchhoff Kutsch GmbH of Germany, which has been supplying metal structures and related parts for the automotive industry for over a century, are combing Taiwan to find qualified suppliers of special welding fasteners used on the company”s products.
According to procurement manager Klaus Lawory, Kirchhoff plans to set up 14 auto parts plants in China next year. The prices of Japan-made fasteners are too high, Lawory stated, though the quality is good. Conversely, Lawory liked the price of Chinese fasteners but said the quality doesn”t match his company”s requirements. Kirchhoff hopes to find automotive fastener suppliers in Taiwan that can meet both quality and price requirements.
Kirchhoff procures about 9 million special welding fasteners per year, mainly from the U.K., but Taiwan suppliers can generally undercut European prices by about 25%.
U.S.-based Tier-one auto parts supplier Arvin Meritor is also increasing its procurements from Asia. The group currently procures about $2.2 billion worldwide and plans to place about half of its orders with suppliers in Taiwan, China and India in the future.
Delphi Automotive System”s Brazil subsidiary recently sent two procurement officials to Taiwan. Delpli will procure about $7 million in aftermarket auto parts initially.
Taiwan suppliers exported NT$120 billion (US$3.83 billion) of auto parts in 2004. Exports for the first two months of 2005 jumped 5% to NT$17.9 billion. \ �2005 FastenerNews.com