Automakers are facing a shift in core competencies, as a changing business environment is requiring new skills and capabilities while making others less important. This requires a significant investment in new business models and new solutions.

Kearney is uniquely positioned to help clients develop a value chain strategy, combining our automotive industry expertise with our thought leadership in operations, our in-depth expertise in value chain design and implementation, and our practical and collaborative approach to working with our clients.

Our asset-light manufacturing approach helps automakers develop strategies for becoming value chain orchestrators, retaining end-product ownership while finding the right development, design, and manufacturing partners. We help them covert capex into opex and free up the necessary invest to develop new business.

The concept for asset-light manufacturing includes four major integrated building blocks:

Aligning and integrating outsourcing targets and value chain strategy with the corporate strategy.
Defining the outsourcing partnership model
Choosing the right partner
Transferring knowledge to selected partners.