If one were to ask, what’s the one thing that <COMPANY> did for McLaren that made them the go-to fasteners supply of this luxury car company, one would be hard-pressed to come up with something. It’s not because there isn’t an answer, it’s because there are so many.

Recently, both companies worked as partners in developing standardization strategies to increase efficiencies and save costs. One such strategy yielded £96 per vehicle in cost savings to McLaren on their new vehicle line, with a predicted run of 2700 vehicles per year. This is an estimated £250K per year in savings. On top of that, the application engineers of both companies collaborated in reducing the Bill of Materials from £517 to £399 per P13 car model.

These successes are attributable to three main elements that, when combined, form a value proposition that is unique to <COMPANY> because of their size, experience, and expertise.

1. Communication
These significant savings stem from weekly meetings between engineers and program managers, where both organizations’ teams collaborate to achieve short- and long-term goals. There’s also a quarterly session among senior executives as well as Engineering Operations, Commercial Procurement, and QA teams to align objectives and ensure mutual growth.

The constant communication has been essential in establishing a fluid working relationship that affords McLaren the ability to rely on <COMPANY> for the supply chain side of things while they focus on building their world-renowned brand.

2. Onsite resource
With a dedicated team onsite, such as an envoy as well as a program manager, <COMPANY> is deep in the trenches with the McLaren crew every day, which provides an intimate understanding of their customer’s manufacturing processes and standards. This insight makes them agile in responding to immediate needs; it is also an integral part in contributing to the customer’s long-term vision, such as turning all of McLaren’s supply chain into PPAP resource vendors with over 100 capable parts – a feat that was accomplished in 2014.

3. Engineering support
Many of <COMPANY>’s customers will attest that the value of their contribution goes beyond quality parts. McLaren experiences that every day when they continue to rely on <COMPANY>’s Engineering Center to conduct testing and to verify the calibration of their test equipment. The engineering support also provides them with a VA/VE savings potential, which is one of the main advantages of working with <COMPANY>.

These were the main reasons <COMPANY> was awarded the new P13 program and also recognized as McLaren’s preferred vendor of fasteners and “c” class components.

The value of technical expertise
“We invest in expertise because, when our engineers are involved throughout the manufacturing process, they can help our customers achieve remarkable savings. Above all, we want to offer our customers the peace of mind they need in having capable support that takes care of the nuts and bolts of things, while they build exciting, futuristic products to grow their company. I’m proud to say that this sets Anixter apart as not many OEM Supply companies can do the same for their customers.”

- Yvonne Pettit, VP of Sales.

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