GM Rates No. 1

General Motors Corp. may own Delphi Automotive Systems, but it doesn't own the employee loyalty of its partsmaking subsidiary. With 208,000 Delphi employees worldwide, how can it?

More than 25 Delphi employees participated in our supplier survey, and most of them rated GM as the best company to work with.

But several Delphi employees picked other automakers as the best. Toyota Motor Corp., for example, got more than a few votes from Delphi managers.

"Toyota is very disciplined, and you know where you stand with them," says one. "They are demanding, but they praise you when you do well, and they spend a lot of time in our plants."

Overall, 31% of supplier respondents rated GM as the best OEM customer to work with, followed by 28% for Chrysler Corp., 17% for Ford Motor Co. and 8% for Toyota. GM and Chrysler tied for first in last year's survey.

But keep in mind that GM has an advantage in the survey because 83% of survey respondents say they deal with GM, more than any other automaker. If two companies are doing business together, something has to be working.

Some respondents spoke highly of their relationships with Chrysler, describing them as true partnerships. They say that SCORE, Chrysler's supplier savings initiative, has a lot to do with it.

"They have a very high presence in terms of early product development and the launch process, which to me is very favorable," says George Winchester, plant manager at the Simpson Industries Inc. plant in Litchfield, MI.