Walter E. Lowe is a career supply chain/material management professional with 30 years of combined experience in the aerospace and automotive manufacturing sectors. In his current position as manager, material planning and logistics, North America Vehicle Logistics for Ford Motor Company N. A., he is responsible for all elements of finished vehicle distribution from every Ford North America vehicle assembly facility, to a dealer network of more than 4,000.

In his 15 year tenure with Ford, Lowe has held numerous positions, including production buyer; manager, North America material logistics; manager, New Business Initiatives; manager, International Export Operations; manager, Global C ustoms and trade for Ford N. A.; and manager, North America Powertrain Plant Operations. He also spent 15 years as a material management professional with the aerospace firm General Dynamics Land Systems Division (GDLS), of Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA.

Lowe serves on the board of directors of the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). Founded in 1982 by a group of visionary managers from Chrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, AIAG provides an open forum where members cooperate in developing and promoting solutions that enhance the prosperity of the automotive industry. AIAG's focus is to continuously improve business processes and practices involving trading partners throughout the supply chain. 

AIAG volunteers work together to resolve issues critical to the automotive supply chain and play a unique role in the development of new technologies and the standards that govern their usage. Here, Walter Lowe discusses the challenges that lie ahead for automotive logistics in 2010 and how he expects AIAG can help foster some viable solutions.

Q: What is AIAG’s main focus or initiative in the logistics arena for 2010?

Lowe: Two main areas have our attention: (1) electronic messaging and (2) RFID applications to eliminate waste.

Additionally, a potential waste elimination strategy for 2010 relates to North American labour unions and how their work processes may lead to inefficiencies in our transportation systems. We can approach those challenges through process mapping, identifying the waste and collectively working to eliminate the waste. That’s a significant area of interest for us in 2010.

Q: What work is AIAG doing to improve logistics processes as vehicles move from the manufacturer to the dealer?

Lowe: We’re interested in implementing AIAG’s global standard for identifying and categorising vehicle damage so that the automotive industry has one global standard to deal with damages once they are identified.

The Global Standard Logistics Damage Codes detail a global standardised set of codes for reporting vehicle damage during the transportation process. The five-digit codes define the damage area, the damage type and the severity. It is a very good coup for AIAG to create a global damage standard for the North American automotive industry.