Watch: Chirey's Carlos Eudave on the OEM's logistics evolution in Mexico
At Automotive Logistics & Supply Chain Mexico, Carlos Eudave, head of logistics at Chirey México, shared some of the milestones, challenges and priorities Chirey has come across in the three years since the launch of the brand in Mexico.
During his presentation at ALSC Mexico, Carlos Eudave, head of logistics at Chirey México, revealed how the carmaker has transformed its logistics strategy, network and operations to fuel rapid growth and competitiveness in Mexico’s automotive market. At the event, Eudave joined Automotive Logistics on the Red Sofa to discuss this further.
The project so far
Launching in Mexico in 2022 but benefitting from 28 years of experience worldwide, Chirey faced a "very challenging" task in creating a new design of logistics flow. Eudave broke the project so far into three phases. The first phase was the launch of the brand in Mexico, which Eudave described as "critical" for the brand because it needed to create a new supply chain from scratch, requiring new jobs, new partners and new dealers. "We have around 85 dealers around the country," he noted.
The second phase of the project focused on the performance of the operation. "We needed to standardise the operation in order to be more competitive and improve the quality of all processes," he said.
Chirey is now in the third phase of the project, which is centred around digitalisation, integration and ensuring the company can can preventative measures to mitigate the impact of unforeseen disruption on its logistics operation. "We are working very closely with China in order to do that, but that is the step that we're working on now," Eudave explained.
Growing pains
As a new player in the Mexico market rapidly increasing its market share, there are a number of challenges Chirey has had to overcome since its launch in the region. Eudave explained that creating new logistics routes was one such challenge, with the OEM needing to "be careful" to ensure processes are efficient and suitable for requirements.
Collaboration was another big task Eudave identified as Chirey has evolved over the past three years. "We needed to develop partnerships with new partners," he said. "We are new in the Mexico market, but we need to have confidence in them... We are prepared for the future because our expansion plan is very aggressive, so when we are working to have everything ready in terms of logistics to supply all the vehicles to the dealers in the future, that [trust in partners] is necessary."
Priorities for progress
Eudave explained that key priorities in any supply chain, particularly traditionally, surround quality, cost and efficiency. "The thing that is a non-negotiable is quality," he stated. "We need to keep the quality to deliver a good product to our final customers, and then we need to have the balance between cost and time, because if we have a hot product and we need to deliver to final customers, sometimes we need to expedite some shipments and we need to invest more money in order not have any issues in the market. But at the same time we need to be very smart and create a very good balance between flows in order to not sacrifice any time and to be very competitive in terms of cost."
Aftersales support
As Chirey's customer base in Mexico grows, it's important its aftersales logistics network is adequately prepared to support Chirey customers. "After we sell the vehicles, the most important part for customer satisfaction is the service in the aftersale," said Eudave.
He explained that Chirey has a 96% availability rate for parts requested by dealers, and for the remaining 4% of parts, Chirey has an expedite process that can bring parts to Mexico from China in as little as two weeks. "With that, we are very confident that we can give a good service to our customers in the aftermarket."
Finding the right partner
Eudave concluded by describing what Chirey looks for in a partnership – whether that be a supplier or a logistics provider – in Mexico. "We are not looking for a provider that can only provide a service... We are looking for a provider that can give us a value added in the operation," he said. "We are very open and we work very close with them because we can hear from them what potential benefits or potential improvements could be, and [it is important that] they are open to hearing us."
He continued: "One advantage that I see in Cherry México is that we are very fast to change. We can do something now and we can do something after. We have plan A, plan B and plan C so it can give us flexibility, and our partners know they have very compromise with that and they help us to achieve that."
