Ohio-based automotive supply-chain specialist Surgere names industry veteran Dana McBrien as guiding architect for AutoSphere, the company’s digital supply-chain platform now uniting five major automakers and a growing number of their suppliers.
McBrien has more than 34 years’ experience in supply-chain leadership, most recently retiring as head of the supply-chain and transportation teams for Honda North America.
Surgere’s role is to provide advanced asset visibility, data analytics and control through each segment of the automotive supply chain – packaging, transportation, yard, finished vehicles, plant and cross-global.
AutoSphere is the name of the supply-chain ecosystem of original equipment manufacturers and their individual networks of suppliers.
It allows OEMs and their suppliers to operate in a single supply-chain-data ecosystem, sharing data and analytics to more efficiently move, track and manage container and parts inventory between companies, and avoid potentially billions of dollars in annual losses.
“It’s estimated the automotive industry annually loses more than $2 billion in the supply chain through container, part, and finished vehicle inventory loss and logistics inefficiencies, through a notorious lack of visibility and inherent control,” Surgere CEO William Wappler says in a statement.
McBrien will provide AutoSphere members with focused executive-level leadership, coordination with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), collaboration with European organizations and participants, and supporting the expansion and extension of AutoSphere into deeper areas of the supply chain, such as finished vehicles and service parts.
AutoSphere is being widely deployed and has moved to an AIAG committee to form ongoing industry standards on ecosystem aspects such as returnable container data mapping.
Founding members of the Automotive Data Ecosystem Design Group and AIAG committee include Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Honda North America, Nissan North America, Toyota North America, Adient, Denso North America, Mahle North America and Yanfeng Automotive Interiors.
