1. What makes Albar the better choice for painted parts over competitors (internal strengths)? Fast response. Painted many “last second” projects for different OEM’s. 2. What are some weaknesses that Albar has compared to competitors that could be improved? Having older paint technology. Most new paint systems have more variable control. Less variation is processes could potentially improve overall quality/yields. 3. What is Albars business-level strategy? Work in “partnerships” with different molders. We win/lose the business together. 4. What is Albars corporate level strategy that leadership is trying to pursue? Create partnerships with specific suppliers. (I.e gasket/molders/paint). Gain Tier 1 programs. 5. What kind of control system is used and does it mesh with the strategy of the company? Not sure what we are trying to control? 6. Current Competitors? I do not know. 7. Are there any potential obstacles in the future development? Old paint line. Possible push for fully robotic paint application (Albar does some hand spraying still) 8. I noticed under the strategic alliances on your website, there is management staff. does that mean that your staff management is controlled by other companies? If not, do you cooperate with other companies on the management of your staff? 9. What do you think makes you stand out of other companies? Friendly, and well connected management. Fast response, and have done many favors/special projects for OEM/customer engineers who work in paint. 10. According to your company history, your company started as a contract painter, and now you grow to a supplier of molded / painted parts. In the future, do you plan to enlarge your business area? Yes. We are currently developing hydrographic systems for automotive exterior. Hydrographic work can also get us into other industries other then automotive. 11. Are there any conflicts of interest with your alliance companies and how do you deal with it? Not that I am aware of. 12. Does your company accept personal orders (online orders)? For example, DIY paint Nope 13. What are potential obstacles for future development? Older paint system. See number 7 14. Companies like GM and Ford are large companies, why do you think Albar made the move into “big automotive “. And what do you think of your products can attract these large car companies? Quality of the parts supplied. Also we are in close proximity to Ford/GM plants. Already doing work for current model, helps with sourcing when they decide on the next year’s version/updating of a product line. 15. Compare your internal programing, past and present. It may be different. Could you tell us where the advantages of this conversion are? Need more clarification. 16. What things Albar should do to improve their product portfolio? What are some tools that could be added? Adding spray-bake/hydrographics. 1. What makes Albar the better choice for painted parts over competitors (internal strengths)? 1) Better painted finish than most of our competitors. 2) Faster response due to smaller size and dedicated and conscientious staff. 3) Pricing better than most larger Tier 1's we compete against due to less corporate overhead structures. 2. What are some weaknesses that Albar has compared to competitors that could be improved? 1) Large paint lines and older technology is somewhat of a weakness. New technology in the paint world are temperature and humidity controls in the paint booths and downdraft waterwash technology in place of dry filters used in cross draft booths. The improves overall ease of application and a minimization of surface defects. 2) Long paint lines require a greater quantity of paint racks. Albar tooling costs tend to be higher than our competitors. 3) Paint lines are over capitalized for parts normally source for vehicle interiors. Exterior painted parts required a powerwash and frequently primers which require a prime bake oven. Interior parts do not require either...so we tend not to be completive against the guys that have simple paint paint booths and oven set ups. 3. What is Albars business-level strategy? 1) Continue expansion of Tier 1 level business using Alliance Partners 2) Pursue regional supply strategy. 22 OE assembly plants are within 4 hours of Lapeer. 4. What is Albars corporate level strategy that leadership is trying to pursue? 1) Succession plans not well developed - weakness (we can elaborate verbally) 2) Utilize Women Owned Business certification for entry to more Tier 1 Business. 5. What kind of control system is used and does it mesh with the strategy of the company? Might have to help me here. 6. Current Competitors? American Autocoat, Adept, Lakeland, Creative Liquid Coatings. 7. Are there any potential obstacles in the future development? 1)OE are compressing the supply base and tend to want large companies with a global footprint. 2) Aging management and workforce. Need younger managers to be trained and developed. 8. I noticed under the strategic alliances on your website, there is management staff. does that mean that your staff management is controlled by other companies? If not, do you cooperate with other companies on the management of your staff? A strategic alliance refers to our strategy to partner with other companies to supply the substrates we will paint. It is unusual to have a standalone painter (we don't mold) be a Tier 1 supplier. The industry is used to molders outsourcing paint. Albar has partners in blow molding, injection molding, stamping, compression molding, electrocoating, anodizing. We partner with these companies when projects require painting. Each of our alliance partners have other business that does not require painting. We join forces to quote painted programs as a team. We either win or lose the business together. 9. What do you think makes you stand out of other companies? Like most, Quality, Service and Delivery. We work hard to be a responsive supplier. No one is perfect and we make mistakes, but we try very hard to respond and correct quickly. We also work hard to develop good relationships with our customers and suppliers so that when something happens, they know we will respond accordingly. We do monitor and track our quality, service and delivery metrics and take pride in good ratings. 10. According to your company history, your company started as a contract painter, and now you grow to a supplier of molded / painted parts. In the future, do you plan to enlarge your business area? We want to continue the growth of our Alliance Strategy. We've tried to avoid adding molding but we do get pushed hard to vertically integrate. But we've been quite competitive and able to grow with our current core business of painting..........working with great alliance partners 11. Are there any conflicts of interest with your alliance companies and how do you deal with it? Occasionally. For example there are some programs that our alliance partners believe do not suit them, but Albar does want the paint. We utilize the right of first refusal strategy. If our alliance partner choose not to quote a program we can look so someone else....just for that program. Same in reverse, if Albar chooses not to quote. 12. Does your company accept personal orders (online orders)? For example, DIY paint No 13. What are potential obstacles for future development? Same as #7 14. Companies like GM and Ford are large companies, why do you think Albar made the move into “big automotive “. And what do you think of your products can attract these large car companies? Not sure I completely understand. Early in Albar's history we had "automotive" business as a contract painter. Most companies like the volume of business that auto industry provides. So our owner looked for auto in the early years. It grew from there as performance lead to more automotive. We inadvertently developed the Alliance model. We we painting spoilers for GM as a contract painter. There was a shortage of suppliers in the painted/blow molded spoiler world. We were a well regarded painter for GM so the asked if we would develop a "partner" and quote in that bid list. It all worked and we've expanded that strategy to other OE's and other substrates technologies. 15. Compare your internal programing, past and present. It may be different. Could you tell us where the advantages of this conversion are? You'll have to help me with this one. 16. What things Albar should do to improve their product portfolio? What are some tools that could be added? We are in the process of developing and getting approvals to be the first in exterior hydrographics for automotive. We are adding "spray bake" technology. This is a high quality / low volume production method for high end vehicle components. Group Project Plan Firm- Albar Industries Inc. 19SEPT17 Firm Selection After collecting and reviewing all the firms that we believed would have been good for this group project we decided to go with Albar Industries Inc. This firm was selected because out of all the firms we reviewed, Albar said they would let us interview two people from to different levels of management. Also, Albar’s website has some information that we can utilize today to start reviewing the external environment, suppliers and customers. Another thing that we found attractive was the fact that the organization is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBENC). Finally, Albar works in a large Sector (Automotive) and this sector is something that would be a good challenge to learn from while being in Michigan, a very demanding automotive state. Albar Industries Inc. Contact’s Below are the contacts that our group will be interviewing for this group project, Glenn Curtis, President Alex Stair, Program Manager 780 Whitney Drive Lapeer MI 48446 780 Whitney Drive Lapeer MI 48446 P-586.612.0234 E- GCurtis@albar.com P- 810.667.0150x230 E- AStair@albar.com Data Collection and Analysis Method For this group report a great deal of information about the industry and who are the competitors and suppliers will be gathered from the two resources we are interviewing. Interviewing them early will help generate a baseline on how we can conduct the rest of our research. The rest of the research will be conducted using online base resources to understand more in-depth the industry, the requirements, and what Albar can do to generate more business. Furthermore, The textbook will be used to help create a course of action for recommendations for the firm. Project Timeline See next page for the project timeline.