Ford Names Seven More Suppliers to ABF Network

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Management Briefing Seminars

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Ford Motor Co. announces today it has added seven new companies to its network of preferred long-term suppliers known as the Aligned Business Framework.

The new companies are Durr AG, Imagination Ltd., Jack Morton Worldwide, Linamar Corp., Microsoft Corp., Neapco LLC and Synovate.

Under ABF, Ford and its suppliers enter into long-term contracts to drive mutual profitability and technology development.

As part of the agreement, Ford increases business volume with selected suppliers, which now include 65 companies.

Launched in 2005, the program spells out business practices designed to increase future collaboration, including phased-in, up-front payment of engineering and development costs.

Tony Brown, Ford group vice president-global purchasing, says ABF is key to the auto maker’s product-development system for its upcoming C-car and other global programs.

“Through it, we are able to align our supply base with our corporate objectives to deliver more vehicles worldwide from fewer core platforms, improve quality, reduce costs and increase our use of common parts and systems.”

In separate news, Ford plans to sell up to $500 million of shares to buy back debt from its Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC subsidiary, Reuters reports.

The auto maker posted an $8.7 billion net loss in the second quarter, including a $2.1 billion charge to assume the value of leases written by its finance unit, largely due to a steeper-than-expected decline in the resale values of light trucks.

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