[Transcript]

[00:00:00] Jan Griffiths: This is the Auto Supply Chain Prophets Podcast, where you'll hear from experts of all facets of supply chain in the auto industry to help you prepare for the future. I'm Jan Griffiths, your co-host and producer.

[00:00:17] Terry Onica: I'm Terry Onica, your podcast co-host. Let's dive in.

[00:00:23] Jan Griffiths: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Auto Supply Chain Profits. Let's check in with my co-host, Terry Onica. Terry, what have you been up to?

[00:00:32] Terry Onica: I'm going to be speaking at the AIAG Mexico Automotive Forum on September 12th, and I've been busy prepping for that. I'm going to be on a panel and we're going to be talking about MMOG/LE and Ford of Mexico is going to be there. We're going to have a supplier there, so I'm really looking forward to it.

[00:00:51] Jan Griffiths: We have said many times, Terry, I'm so glad that there are people in this world that are passionate about MMOG/LE because I am not one of them.

[00:00:58] Terry Onica: I know you're not.

[00:00:59] Jan Griffiths: But chain needs you; we need people that are passionate about these subjects.

[00:01:06] Terry Onica: Yes, exactly.

[00:01:08] Jan Griffiths: I'll tell you what has been getting my attention lately is Elon Musk. Now, there's a biography out by Walter Isaacson. And let me just tell you, I'm on chapter 72, so that tells you how long this audio book is.

[00:01:27] Terry Onica: 72? Wow.

[00:01:28] Jan Griffiths: Yes. Now, the reason I am fascinated with Musk is because my inclination is to not like him because he's not an authentic leader, he's completely incapable of showing empathy, he doesn't connect with people, but yet he is a genius. And there are many things that he has done for the world, quite frankly, and the automotive industry to push the envelope. And for that, I have to admire him.

[00:02:01] Terry Onica: You have to.

[00:02:01] Jan Griffiths: You have to, right? One of the things that he does, and this is part of his method of operating, he questions every single specification. He questions everything. Why does this connect with this? Why are there three pieces? Why can't be one piece? Why do we to conform to this specification? He wants people to understand ownership of that specification. So, if this is a specification, he says, 'Who's responsible for this?' If you were an engineer and you were to say, 'Well, I don't know, it's just an automotive thing.' He would fire you on the spot. So, that made me think about our beloved automotive industry, our legacy auto, and our many, many specifications that we have. I mean, MMOG/LE being one of them.

[00:02:55] Terry Onica: Yep, there's one.

[00:02:56] Jan Griffiths: And at first it sounds great. You know, EV startup company, throw out all the specifications, but eh, not so fast. Some of those specifications are there for a reason, and they have a benefit to the company to the product, whether it's a safety issue, indeed, to the bottom line. As you've said many times, Terry, you have a proven track record of impacting the bottom line through the implementation of MMOG/LE. So, I thought it would be great if we brought on the show today somebody who understands these specifications and, more importantly, is leading the charge on educating people on these specifications. And it's an organization that has been out there for many, many, many years. But before I tell you who it is, no spoilers, let me tell you a little bit about our guest. Get ready to meet the self-proclaimed supply chain and international trade nerd. He is certainly that, but oh, he's so much more. With 24 years of automotive supply chain experience, ranging from material control, purchasing logistics, international trade compliance, and program management, he's seen it all from the OEM and Tier One perspective to his current role at AIAG. Yes, Automotive Industry Action Group, serving a broad member base and numerous stakeholders. He's an awesome corporate mentor to first-generation college students, spreading his passion for supply chain, continuous improvement, lifelong learning, and leadership. He is such an inspiration, and we've seen that in action, haven't we, Terry, at Wayne State?

[00:04:55] Terry Onica: We absolutely has. He's one phenomenal mentor, and he's also on the advisory board with us, as well.

[00:05:00] Jan Griffiths: That's right. His current role is leading the training, customer service, and membership engagement team within AIAG, and managing some of the university relationships and collaborative programs where his passion truly shines. He's on a mission to increase and sustain customer engagement with AIAG members and non-members alike, and to support the front lines through AIAG training programs and events. He is Jim Liegghio. Jim, welcome to the show.

[00:05:37] Jim Liegghio: Thank you very much, Jan and Terry. I appreciate that introduction.

[00:05:40] Jan Griffiths: It's great to have you here. You know, we have interacted with you. I know Terry works with you a lot on AIAG, but I certainly have seen you in action with Wayne State with the Supply Chain Advisory Board. And your passion, Jim, not just for the students but for the industry. As we transform this industry, you want to make sure that AIAG not only stays relevant, but stays ahead of the game.

[00:06:07] Jim Liegghio: That's absolutely my job, Jan and Terry. And thanks very much again. I'm flattered by the introduction. It's no small feat what we're doing here in the automotive industry, as you know, it's a time of drastic change in the industry. I don't think that's a shock to anybody that's working in the space. So, yeah, we do what we do, and we're here for the industry and all the changes that are ensuing right now.

[00:06:26] Jan Griffiths: What are you doing, Jim, to help transform the training and the programs? And so, when you get guys like Elon Musk and EV startups that say, you know, AIAG, what's that? We're not going to do that. How, Jim, how do you change this?

[00:06:41] Jim Liegghio: Well, you have to kind of shatter those impressions, Jan; really, frankly, there's a lot of tools that we've proven out to the industry over decades that are tried and true. You get the common perception of these companies is that these tools are outdated, or they don't apply to us, or we're going to do business our way. We respect that kind of renegade spirit, of course, but at the end of the day, things like the core tools and the proven methodologies of APQP and control plan, those tools are so valuable to the manufacturing process that we often see those companies coming back in some way, shape, or form to consume those tools and use those within their business. And there's room in those tools for different velocities and different philosophies along the way. There's some sector-specific type of room within some of those standards. It's not an easy feat to try to convince somebody to stay on the reservation, so to speak. We respect that kind of, you know, mentality of let's try something different, let's try something new. But regardless, we have 14 EV specific OEMs that ascribe to AIAG tools or membership in some way, shape, or form. And we've shown that our tools are valuable to that industry, as well.

[00:07:44] Jan Griffiths: 14?

[00:07:45] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, that's correct. Yeah.

[00:07:47] Jan Griffiths: That's impressive. So, you have to serve legacy OEMs, legacy tier companies, plus EV startup OEMs, and the supply base that may or may not be unique to EVs.

[00:08:02] Jim Liegghio: Correct. Yeah. And don't forget aerospace and semiconductor and heavy truck and equipment and some other sport utility type industries. Don't forget some of those other outliers as well that are non-traditional automotive. So, while our core will always be automotive, there's a lot of different looks and feels to that these days, of course, as the industry changes. So, we're adapting as well to keep up with the times.

[00:08:22] Terry Onica: And you know what's nice is AIAG really brings everybody together. And that's why I think the standards are really good because you've got a lot of different stakeholders with a lot of different backgrounds. You've got OEMs through smaller tiers. So, that's what I think is so cool about AIAG: it's that one voice, that one place where everybody can come together and talk about industry issues and improve them. And that's been my passion for volunteering for so many years at AIAG. It's just a great place.

[00:08:53] Jim Liegghio: We appreciate all the contributions you two have made, and as things change and as we get younger entrants into the space right out of university, in some cases, still in university, we're very grateful to both of you for your support. But yeah, like to Terry's point, there's a ton of different variety out there, we welcome all comers in terms of members of AIAG. Collaboration is really the essence of who we are. We like to say we're the platform where companies come together to solve a common industry need. I mean, that's been our tenant for 42 and a half years, and that'll be our tenant going forward is collaboration; it's one of our core values. So, we're very excited for the challenge. We do have an EV-specific strategy group that we're looking at and kind of rolling out some programs in that space specifically, but as I said, there's definitely obviously proven value in all of the standards and the core tools and the other programs that we've had for years as well.

[00:09:41] Terry Onica: So, speaking of all the standards and the core tools, when it comes to training, let's dive into that a little bit more because I've been in the industry throughout my entire career at various different organizations and AIAG is always known for publications and training. So, I know that you are leading the training. Can you tell us about the training that you have at AIAG, just for our listeners that may not be aware, or maybe there are some new things they need to learn about?

[00:10:12] Jim Liegghio: Absolutely. So, one thing that always amazes me is really that the size and the diversity of our training program, and I think a lot of people don't realize that, especially, you know, coming in for one class here or one class there or they're taking an e-learning online. We have a huge, diverse library of different programs, ranging from a half-day class, in fact, one took place today in the building, all the way through five-day certification programs and that type of thing. So, we even act as a licensed training partner for other global organizations in some cases. Our training portfolio is very, very diverse. We have everything from micro learnings or short, you know, kind of half-day or one-day overview classes to that more in-depth content and material. Obviously, as the learner portfolio changes and people's attention spans get shorter and shorter, and they get pulled in more and more different directions. We've had to adapt some of those models, and we're looking to continue to do that. We offer a few classes as a hybrid format, where we have people literally in the classroom in front of an instructor, but we also have people in different countries or different states online at the same time. So, that hybrid model is something we've really played with the last year or so. That's proven out to be, you know, something that students can work with. Whether it's travel schedules or budgets that are getting in the way, we try to accommodate the different types of learners. So, like I said, the diversity and kind of the richness of our portfolio of training is something that really amazes me. I think we have about 56-57 unique training classes. You know, you talked about MMOG/LE, of course, that's one of them, but we have, like I said, 50 some different varieties of the training classes that we offer. So, that's some of the interesting factoids about training. I recently had a company come to me. He was a student 20 years ago, almost 20 years ago. And now, he's in charge of a West Coast startup company in the semiconductor space. And he's actually utilizing us to bring his team up to speed on a lot of the different core offerings that we had that he experienced, I think it was 18 years ago. So, here we have a student coming back as the chief strategist for this company, it's a startup, like I said. Coming back, calling us, getting reorientated to our portfolio, and kind of picking and choosing what he wants his core team to work on and learn. So, I thought that was a pretty cool story to share.

[00:12:17] Jan Griffiths: When I think about AIAG, Jim, I think about the blue books back in the day. Now, something you might not know about me is that I am also a recovering program manager. We often laugh about me being a recovering supply chain management person, but I'm also a recovering program manager. And I was responsible for taking the APQP manual when it first came out. And putting together a training program around that for, actually, it was Bosch; Bosch had just purchased the AlliedSignal Foundation Brick division, and I put it together, and I absolutely love it. Now, you know, I'm not into MMOG/LE or IATF; that's not my thing, but get me going on APQP, and I'm there because I've lived it, and I understand the benefits to putting in the work upfront when you launch a program. And I think that is something clear when you're an EV startup; if there's one thing, it's got all over APQP, but you've just recently reissued that, haven't you?

[00:13:27] Jim Liegghio: Yeah. The third edition of the APQP came out in March. The control plan is now a separate standalone product. It was previously incorporated into that version two of APQP. So, yeah, it's a separate and new product. It's the first iteration of APQP. And I think, 12 years, I believe it was, maybe more. So, yeah, it's the third edition. There are a lot of significant updates to that. So, we launched the new product back in March. It was the first time ever that we launched the product itself, multiple languages, and five new training courses all at the same time. So, this year has been really focused on that APQP Control Plan launch, as well as the launch of the training courses. And as these OEM mandates come up, a couple of those mandates are coming up on September 1st, and one more to follow from the Detroit Three in December. As those mandates come up, we're seeing obviously the enrollments tick up and the training classes and more and more interest there. Not to say people procrastinate, but of course, people take some kind of wait and see approach sometimes. So, we're seeing a lot of that ramping up now as we move into the fall season. It was a big splash, obviously, last year at our quality summit to announce the changes coming down the pike. And then, this year, we'll be following up, obviously, more changes to come and other products, but we'll be talking about that a bit more at the Quality Summit in October right here in Novi, Michigan. But yeah, the APQP Control Plan was a very big launch for us this year. And we're very, very happy with the success of that. And, of course, getting the industry to adopt that as quickly as they can will only enable their success. And to your point, Jan, those methodologies, those philosophies apply across sectors within the industry. The gated approach, if you will, the project management, program management that's here to stay. That's not going anywhere.

[00:15:02] Jan Griffiths: Yeah. because that's when you see the impact to the cost of the product. If you don't contain those issues and have your arms around all of those details early, early on in the process, they show up later on. And when they show up later on, they're 10 times more costly. So, I think that's something sometimes that people miss is this is how to control launch costs. Almost everyone, launch cost is higher than they expected it to be. But with a rigorous application of APQP, you can contain that.

[00:15:31] Jim Liegghio: Sure. The cost of prevention, obviously, or pre-program containment, as you put it, is obviously much less impactful or much more affordable than, you know, a post-launch issue. I sat through a session by Harald Wilhelm, one of our Vice President of Quality Products and Services. I sat through one of his sessions at the Wayne State program that we offer. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but that's one of the biggest things I picked up was the exponential cost if there are issues post-launch or during launch, it just grows exponentially. So, you want to get ahead of those issues at the front-end for sure.

[00:16:02] Terry Onica: Jim, our audience is made up of quality and supply chain professionals and sustainability professionals. And some have been in the industry for quite some time and some are new. So, what are some of the top classes that you have? What are the popular ones and ones that you might recommend people make sure that they're taking?

[00:16:24] Jim Liegghio: So, that's a good question, Terry. You know, we've recently launched the Essentials of Supply Chain. Those are e-modules. There's six of them available online. I think we launched those about a year ago. The first one is absolutely free to anybody who wants to check it out. And I believe you had some volunteerism on some of the origination of that project. So, thank you for that. That's kind of the entry point if you will, the one on one level of the supply chain. So, if somebody's new to supply chain management or they're more of a seasoned professional coming in from a different area, let's say, and they've really never worked in the supply chain, that's somewhere to start. And the follow-ons from that could be something like MMOG/LE or the Wayne State 23 Week Program, with a certificate program in purchasing and supply chain management that we offer. But those are kind of some of the early entry points into the supply chain curriculum. On the quality side, our quality library is huge. So, it really depends on the person and what they're looking to learn and what they're doing. Our IATF Lead Auditor and Internal Auditor Classes are very popular. Design and Process FMEA classes, the VDA 6.3 class that we offer, all those classes are, you know, they run all the time, and they're usually pretty full. I talked already about the APQP Control Plan; there's a two-day transitioning course. So, somebody that's maybe more familiar already with APQP and control plan, there's a two-day transitioning course that's part of the new suite of products that's been very successful; consistent enrollment with that one. And it's a lot of information in two compact days. So, really favorable feedback on that class. And then, we have a one-day APQP and control plan fundamentals course, which actually includes the documents themselves, whether it's electronic format or hard copy, and that's actually done quite well and taken off as well. So, like I said, it depends on the person and the role, but there's a lot of different options out there. I would encourage somebody to check out our website at AIAG.org and just go right to the training page. But it depends on where somebody is at in their journey, but we've got a flavor for pretty much everybody in both of those spaces.

[00:18:13] Terry Onica: And, Jim, we're adding a new class on the supply chain side. Do you mind if I tell them about it?

[00:18:18] Jim Liegghio: I don't mind. I think you know a thing or two about that one, Terry. Why don't you go ahead?

[00:18:23] Terry Onica: Yes. So, AIAG had me develop an MMOG/LE workshop. So, in the first class with MMOG/LE, you just understand all the concepts, we get into the criteria, and you start to get a feel for how you would do an assessment. But what's really great is AIAG is adding on a second class. So, this will be more of a workshop where the students are going to come in. We're going to deep dive the critical criteria in MMOG/LE. We're going to start looking at work instructions and seeing what's good about them, what's not good about them. Would somebody be able to perform that action successfully to best practice? Should they be called on to do that, especially as we see roles changing and training? So, we're really excited about that. And I believe the first class is going to be on September 18th and it's going to be on-site at AIAG. The reason we're having it on-site, at least initially, to start with is because we believe, in a workshop, it's best to have people together so they can really have some good conversations. And I think Jim and I are looking at maybe next year would it be possible to do it virtually, but at least this year we're going to stick to having it onsite at AIAG. So, super excited about that.

[00:19:35] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, I'm excited to see that one, too, Terry, take shape because it's something that's been talked about in the past. And I'm actually personally, on a personal level, Jan, I'm sorry; I know you're not an MMOG/LE disciple yet. Yet, I say yet. I'm very excited about it. I'll add to my repertoire earlier, I'll say I'm an MMOG/LE nerd as well. So, I'll go ahead and throw that out there, Jan, and maybe someday you can sit in on the class that Terry's going to put on for us. But, yeah, the workshop class is looking good for the launch. It's going to be offered roughly monthly. Looking at 2025, Terry, like you said, it may migrate over to a virtual type of platform; we'll see. But it is a workshop kind of a hands-on class that I think lends itself, at least initially, to get some folks in the building here. We have a beautiful space for training downstairs. I'm always proud to show that off as well. So, yeah, looking forward to that. It's going to be cool. I think it's going very cool.

[00:20:23] Terry Onica: What I find is that in MMOG/LE, they have these F3 questions, and those are the most critical, and if you miss just one, you automatically go to a C-level score. So, what the workshop offers is we're going to go through all of those F3 questions. So, once you know you have a good foundation, we don't need to go all 176 criteria. I think that's why Jan wants to poke herself in the eye because there's so many. But we're going to go through roughly, you know, 45 F3 criteria and really dissect those. So, I think that that's going to be really good. I find in my past, people have asked me to come on-site after just to go through those in more detail. So, I'm happy that now can be a role of AIAG in this workshop. So, that'll be great.

[00:21:04] Jan Griffiths: Tell us more, Jim, about the work that you do with universities, particularly with Wayne State.

[00:21:11] Jim Liegghio: Yes. Thanks, Jan. So, recently, I've inherited those programs. I personally love that piece of my job. It's something that I've often dedicated my time to. As you mentioned earlier, I'm a corporate mentor, I think five or six years over now, to some of these first-generation students. Working with universities and colleges, part of my goal is to grow and at least maintain, if not grow, some of those relationships, which even span out to some community college levels and technical schools. So, we've got a couple select technical schools using some of our core tools and documents and drafting up pieces of their own curriculum or some supplementing pieces of their curriculum, I should say with that. So that's an interesting piece of what I do. Now, with Wayne State, we have two very unique programs, I think, in the industry, but very unique to each other as well. We have the Certificate Program in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management going into its twelfth year already, which is hard to believe. But it's actually in the current eleventh year and twenty-three weeks of content, and next year will be year twelve. We typically run this class with twenty-five to thirty students, and they're typically maybe, let's just say they're at the buyer level, and they're advancing, they're moving up to managerial or supervisory roles, or they're branching out into a different part of the supply chain. And this program is unique that it exposes the student to so many different areas within supply chain. Professionals in the space will often talk about the breadth of supply chain and how many different disciplines there are and how many different things there are to learn, or your eyes are open to different pieces of the business that maybe you were aware of, but you really didn't know how it impacted your scorecard or your area. We use the program to expose the students to literally dozens and dozens of concepts in supply chain management from legal and purchasing, concepts to finance, financial analysis to strategy, customs and trade, packaging, and consolidation centers, you name it; it's probably in the 23-week curriculum. So that's one program that I'm super excited about. We have several OEM students in that class right now. One of the OEMs has continually sent more and more students over the past couple of years, mostly remote; this is a hybrid program.

[00:23:09] Terry Onica: Jim, a fun fact about myself, I was in the second class of that certificate. And I thought it was amazing. I mean, because even myself, I had been focused in area of plant, but I'd never been focused on transportation, how cars get hauled. It just gives you that full breadth of everything that makes you think better because everything becomes unsiloed, right? It's an excellent program.

[00:23:34] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, Terry, thanks. Let's geek out for a minute, right? You and I were talking the other day about breaking down the supply chain silos because, frankly, that's what a large part of what this program does. I don't want to short the limelight for the other program I was going to talk about, which is TLT or Tomorrow's Leaders Today. And Jan, actually, thank you for your contributions to TLT. That's the kind of the next level-up program from this 23-week program, and this is really meant for the high-potential individual endorsed by their company. It's a very condensed cohort of sessions. There's a continuous improvement project that the candidates are assigned that they come back and report back on. Again, it's a collaborative platform with Wayne State. We did three days down at Wayne State back in April. Maybe Jan, you want to take the floor to touch on how that concluded back in April?

[00:24:17] Jan Griffiths: Well, I love it. That's my jam. You know that. You're talking about leadership. Oh, but I tell you what I loved about that program was the fact that some of the sessions are actually at a manufacturing plant, some are at AIAG, and the level of engagement of all the students because I can tell right when I walk in the room where people's heads are at, you can tell by the body language and every single person was engaged,

[00:24:47] Terry Onica: One thing I want to add to that too is, I hope everybody's listening, I don't think there's anywhere you can go in automotive, especially when we need so much training in the industry, whether it's the plant level and purchasing and quality, wherever it's at, that you can go and get this kind of training to jump-start your organization and the person in that role into understanding what they need to do. It's just such a wealth of knowledge out there, and I really encourage anybody listening to look up all these different courses and classes and university certificates that they have, to really embrace them and really help to move your employees up or just help them to get the basic knowledge of what they need to do in their job every day.

[00:25:32] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, absolutely. That's the fun part of my job. I love, like Jan said, walking into the room and seeing people glued in or engaged. There's definitely a great vibe to those cohorts; the people form relationships in those classes. It's about the content, but it's also about the relationships and the professional development for those students.

[00:25:49] Jan Griffiths: And can I just say this, I love asking the question that I know everybody's probably thinking and doesn't want to ask, and that is this, the cost of these programs, it's all very, very affordable and budget-friendly. I was shocked. And as a former supply chain person, I would look at these programs as not only a good program to put my team in but also a great way to identify high potential candidates. If I knew somebody was on that program, I'd be kind of after them.

[00:26:25] Jim Liegghio: That's an excellent point, right? It gives those students that have gone through those programs and graduated if you will, it gives them a different perspective, number one, and a value, number two, because, frankly, it's an investment for the company to send those students to these programs. And they'll come out the other side a different person. If nothing else, much more educated on, like I said, the breadth of supply chain, but I think those developmental leadership pieces or strokes that are in those programs, they do reflect upon the graduate of those programs. So, Jan, that's an excellent point.

[00:26:54] Jan Griffiths: I mean, what a great source of talent right there. We're always talking about the talent shortage and talent and getting people into our business. Going into a university is one thing, but going into and looking for people who have graduated from this course, oh, I'd be all over that.

[00:27:11] Jim Liegghio: Yeah. I mean, we're in the middle of this kind of generational shift, right? I think we're maybe, I'm going to say, two-thirds of the way through some of that generational turnover, if you will. But a lot of that talent and that expertise can walk out the door, never to be found again until somebody relearned something. So, it is part of that kind of next-gen strategy, if you will. I think we're kind of in the midst of that. Maybe it was delayed a little bit through COVID, some of that phenomenon there, but I think we're still in the midst of it. If I had to guess, I'd say we're two-thirds of the way through that generational shift, but I think given that and other things, that these programs definitely offer value.

[00:27:43] Terry Onica: And I want to just give an example, too, in the Tomorrow's Leaders Today, because I got to sit on the session and I was fascinated by it, but the students got to see Jeff Morrison, Global VP of supply chain and purchasing, talk for like a half hour and then just answer questions. Where could any kind of potential lead in your organization have that kind of opportunity? That's what that course offered them. So, I thought was phenomenal. I know I really enjoyed hearing he say. I can't imagine those students were not thrilled to hear him talk as well and get a chance to ask him questions.

[00:28:16] Jim Liegghio: Yeah. Jeff Morrison's presentation really was a great capstone to the beginning of this year's program for TLT. He's such an accessible guy. He's so relatable. He talked, of course, about GM and their programs and some of the journeys they've been through recently and some of the things they're working on, which was awesome. Again, the nerd in me. So, number one, that was awesome. But number two, his personal journey and kind of his career growth and development, he really gave a nice insight into that. And I think he's just one of those people that when he speaks, everybody listens, of course, but so relatable, so accessible, it really was a really nice way to end day two of the programming this past spring we're looking forward to it.

[00:28:53] Jan Griffiths: He is an authentic leader. He is a leader with Gravitas. Never in my career did I think I would see the head of an OEM purchasing organization stand up there and talk about, and mean it, the value of relationships. Never did I think, I mean, we've all heard, they all say, 'Oh, it's about partnerships,' blah, blah, blah. And they don't really mean it. This guy meant it. And to me, I had a chill, honestly, Jim, and we were sitting there listening to him. But how great is that? Also, again, I go back to recruitment, for people to hear it, recruitment for GM, when they hear him speak, if I was starting my career, I would be, 'Oh yeah, I want to work for that guy.'

[00:29:41] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, and I mean, it's no surprise that GM has climbed the WRI, the Working Relationship Index, consecutively, year over year recently, right? We saw that again. Andrea already talked about that point. But, yeah, we've seen GM climb steadily, and it's, I think, like you said, it's a reflection on Jeff Morrison's leadership. The spirit of what they're doing at GM. It was excellent. We're very grateful to the volunteers and the speakers that worked on those programs.

[00:30:04] Jan Griffiths: So, Jim, our audience, as you know, supply chain leaders, quality leaders in the automotive industry. With all of your experience, everything that you see out there, and the transformation that you're dealing with, what is the one action that you would give to our listeners today to help them as they transform their supply chains for the future? I know you've probably got a million things, but come on one thing. What is it?

[00:30:32] Jim Liegghio: I can only say one thing. Can I negotiate this, Jan? No, I'm kidding. I would say number one is to be agile. We're in a huge time of change. Be open-minded. Be aware of the tools that are out there that add value. Take advantage of those tools. One thing we're currently looking at is how to make sure we're engaging the small to midsize companies. Traditionally, we've had a lot of focus, of course, on the OEMs and the Tier Ones. And that's hugely important to the direction of what we do, of course. I don't want to discredit that at all. But one thing we're looking at really driving is that small to mid-tier engagement and making sure that those members, which is a huge part of our constituency, making sure those members have access to the tools, are aware of the tools and are taking advantage of those. Because that's really what's going to upskill and enable them to stay ahead and to stay with the programs. So, like I said, be agile, be a continuous learner, look at what AIAG has to offer. There's a reason we've been a significant and relevant player in this space for so long. We are the industry standards organization, plainly put. And like Terry said at the very beginning of the conversation, we're all about collaboration. So, also reminding people that they can have a seat at the table and have a voice in the discussion. So, really, that's what we're about, and that's what I would leave the audience with. Take a look at what's out there, and again, disregard the notion that it doesn't apply to your business, your space, or your niche of the industry. It absolutely does. So, that would be the one thing. The other thing, if I could slide one little more.

[00:31:57] Jan Griffiths: Go on then. All right, since it's you, I guess we'll let you.

[00:32:02] Jim Liegghio: We've talked a lot about next-gen and talent development and talent recognition. My personal plea would be to have people bring someone along for the journey to learn, grow, and develop within their organizations and invest in your key employees, your Hipo people. I just want to tag that on there. I know I was only supposed to say one thing, but I just want to make sure that it is known that talent wants to be developed. And there is a next generation of leaders out there that really are yearning for knowledge and experience. And I would, you know, with tipping my hat to our educational programs, the other hat I wear here, I would absolutely say to look into the 23 Week Certificate program as well as Tomorrow's Leaders Today.

[00:32:39] Jan Griffiths: Yeah. And, Jim, often in times of crisis, if the company has to cut back, one of the first things they cut out of the budget is training. And when you think about it, and I've done it, I've done that. I'll be the first to fall on the sword and say that I've done that. But when you think about it, that is the worst possible thing that you can cut because you have to nurture talent. You have to provide training, particularly now during this period of transformation. And like you say, with the generations coming into the workforce, with Gen Z coming in and Gen A is right behind them. If you don't nurture them, give them the training, give them the tools they need to be successful, and move them on up. In the organization, you're not going to retain that talent. So, it is more important now than ever before.

[00:33:34] Jim Liegghio: I vehemently agree with that, Jan. Thanks very much for highlighting and illuminating that point. I think there's a big vacuum of talent, right? Once some of the current leadership moves on and the industry shifts more and more, I think now is the time to invest in those people and succession planning. And making those investments, as you said, people, they're prime at the pump to be, you know, to be brought up. And if you don't do that, they might go into a different industry or somewhere else. So, you're right. It's one of the easy things to cut in times of trouble, of course, travel and training, right? Everybody knows that. But my advice would be to look at the affordable options that we offer and some of these unique programs in the space and take advantage. Reach out to us. If there's something you need to learn more about, I would absolutely say to reach out to myself or anybody at AIAG, and we'd be happy to help.

[00:34:19] Jan Griffiths: Yeah. And we'll drop a whole bunch of links in the show notes so people can access you and AIAG and the relevant training. And with that, Jim Liegghio, thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:34:32] Jim Liegghio: It was lovely. Thank you both for the time and opportunity, and I wish you all well. Have a great day.

[00:34:37] Terry Onica: Thanks, Jim.

[00:34:38] Jan Griffiths: Are you ready to find the money in your supply chain? Visit www.autosupplychainprophets.com to learn how or click the link in the show notes below.

Season 3

Supplier Relationship Management: Driving Success in Modern Supply Chains

Why Every Supply Chain Needs an Army of Problem Solvers

Transforming Supply Chains: Aludyne’s People-First, Tech-Driven Approach

Leading the Charge: Building Tomorrow’s Supply Chain Leaders

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