Red Sofa interviews
Watch: Audi México's Francisco Bravo on improving productivity and mitigating disruption
At Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Mexico, Francisco Bravo, senior director of supply chain at Audi México discusses improving efficiency and overcoming obstacles in today's automotive landscape.
During his keynote presentation on improving productivity at Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Mexico, Francisco Bravo, senior director of supply chain at Audi México, said that "productivity is not longer a goal, it is an operating condition". Speaking on the Red Sofa , he elaborated on this and discussed how Audi México has been overcoming disruptions in the past few years.
"We have been facing disruptions without any end in the past two years," he said. "With this, we need to improve and focus on doing more with less."
He also spoke about the need to predict and understand disruptions, especially where multiple events combine to severely disrupt the supply chain.
Furthermore, he touched on the benefits of having playbooks, processes and a level of standardisation necessary to appropriately respond to disruptions.
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Building resiliency and efficiency
In his keynote, Bravo identified distance, complexity and processes as key cost differentiators when striving for a supply chain that is more resilient, as well as one that is leaner and more competitive. On the Red Sofa, he talked about this in more detail.
"We are now analysing the routes of the materials, improving those routes and optimising our transport lines so that we can get more for what we are paying at the moment," he said.
Bravo noted that another important aspect of creating a leaner and more resilient supply chain is reducing complexity, not just in the processes but also in the product. This he said, means satisfying the customer demands for individualisation and high availability of equipment, while also reducing the amount of parts in the supply chain in a way that does not jeopardise quality.
The secret to success in complex times
Despite the complexities of Mexico's modern-day automotive sector and the near constant disruptions experienced by the industry, Audi México has managed to make gains in supply chain performance over the past few years.
"Creating the backbone of standarised process, yet still being able to function in a flexible way for this environment, has given us the opportunity to create, for example, improvements in water usage," he explained, noting that the automaker has seen a 70% improvement in water usage across the company.
He also said that Audi México has seen more than 250 ideas become projects to optimise supply chain operations and improve efficiency in real terms.
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Digital transformation
Digitalisation is a key pillar in most OEM's growth strategies going forward, and Audi México is no exception. It plans to take full advantage of new digital technologies to optimise its supply chain and drive efficiency improvements.
"What we're doing is we are now creating pilots of agentic AI," he shared. "We a using them to analyse big amounts of data from our inbound, in-house and outbound processes, and of course we are trying to predict the next disruption."
He went on to say that using these agents, Audi México intends to analyse patterns that allow it to improve its processes and how it reacts to disruptions better and earlier, so that it can "be faster than the disruption, and adapt [its] processes to that."
Bravo also emphasised the importance of communication, and highlighted how creating internal competencies and collaborating with external partners can be crucial to improving supply chain resiliency and efficiency.
