Surgere®, industry leader in providing digitized visibility and control in the automotive supply chain, has announced the appointment of automotive supply chain veteran Dana McBrien as Guiding Architect for the AutoSphereTM, the company’s digital supply chain platform now uniting five major automakers and a growing number of their suppliers.
McBrien has more than 34 years’ experience in supply chain leadership, most recently retiring as head of the Supply Chain and Transportation teams for Honda North America. He will provide the growing ecosystem’s membership with focused executive-level leadership, ongoing coordination with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), collaboration with European organizations and participants, and supporting the expansion and extension of the AutoSphere into deeper areas of the supply chain as defined by the membership, such as Finished Vehicles and Service Parts.
“I’m glad to help all AutoSphere members in collaborating and in using the system to their cost advantage,” McBrien said. “I greatly admire the work Surgere has done to this point in developing a platform that is unprecedented in the automotive industry. I’ve gotten to know their potential and capabilities and appreciate their collaborative approach working with numerous OEMs, Tier 1s and other companies involved in managing the complex automotive Supply Chain. It will be an honor to help current and prospective members find greater profitability and visibility by being in the AutoSphere community.”
“We couldn’t be more excited than to have Dana on our team,” Surgere CEO William Wappler said. “He’s the perfect fit to be the Guiding Architect of the AutoSphere as it grows around the world. His expertise, experience and management skills are going to pay off for everyone in the AutoSphere both now and in the future.”
The “AutoSphere” name describes the supply chain ecosystem of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their vast individual networks of suppliers. The AutoSphere enables OEMs and their suppliers to operate in a single supply chain data ecosystem, sharing data and analytics to more efficiently move, track and manage container and part inventory between companies, and potentially billions of dollars in annual loss.
“The AutoSphere tackles the costliest problems in automotive manufacturing, from loss, inefficiency, and a lack of visibility into the movement of parts, containers and other materials,” Wappler said. “We think the name ‘AutoSphere’ and its tagline ‘Strength in Numbers’ accurately describe this shared community of like-minded OEMs and suppliers that now have a way to tackle these issues on an ongoing basis.”
The AutoSphere is being widely deployed and has moved to an AIAG committee to form ongoing industry standards on ecosystem aspects like Returnable Container Data Mapping. Founding members of the Automotive Data Ecosystem Design Group and AIAG Committee include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, Honda North America, Nissan North America, Toyota North America, Adient, Denso North America, MAHLE North America and Yanfeng Automotive Interiors.