Kyle Dickie

AUSTRALIAN automotive retail training and dealer process improvement firm, Sewells Group, is among an elite group of international suppliers to be honoured at the Ford Motor Company’s World Excellence Awards this year – and the first service-oriented company to be recognised at this level.

At the 18th annual awards event held in Detroit last month, Sewells was one of 57 companies named as the US auto giant’s top-performing suppliers worldwide, all of whom “distinguish themselves from their peers by achieving the highest levels of global excellence”.

Sewells Group was placed in the silver category, with chief executive Kyle Dickie accepting the award from Ford president and CEO Mark Fields, executive vice-president of product development and chief technical officer Raj Nair, and group vice-president of global purchasing Hau Thai-Tang.

“Ford’s World Excellence Awards allow us to recognise suppliers who demonstrate a strong commitment to quality, performance and teamwork,” Mr Thai-Tang said.

“These award-winning companies have helped Ford deliver a breakthrough year, and we are thankful they are part of our One Ford team.”

The award reflects the significant role Sewells plays in assisting Ford improve its standing with customers and dealers, particularly in terms of training, education, process improvement and profitability at the retail level – and the increasing recognition of this within the highest ranks of the Blue Oval brand.

This is applied through the so-called ‘Ford Academy’ which is now operating throughout the region, expanding beyond Australia to New Zealand, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and South Africa.

In an interview with GoAuto, Ford Academy manager for Australia, Simon Weller, who is a Sewells executive based at Ford Australia’s headquarters in Richmond, said the award reflected the increasingly important role of customer and dealer relations at the car manufacturer.

“Ford, on an annual basis, invites many of their suppliers – particularly production suppliers and tech suppliers – in to Detroit to award them as partners for being cost-effective, for being innovative, for helping Ford deliver on their brand pillars, which is ‘green, quality, safe and smart’,” he said.

“The prominent thing for us is that we are the first company to be awarded this that is non-production-related. It’s really around services that we provide Ford at a corporate level and at a retail level as well.

Highest level: Sewells Group CEO Kyle Dickie accepts the World Excellence Award from Ford CEO Mark Fields (second from right), product development chief Raj Nair (left) and global purchasing boss Hau Thai-Tang.

“There’s been a big turnaround in the last couple of years, not just in Australia but across Asia-Pacific, in CVP (customer value proposition) performance, customer satisfaction and CE (customer experience), and I think that this is an acknowledgement of our role in that.”

Mr Weller explained that Sewells is part of an increasingly important effort – “a definite reinvestment” – within Ford in recent years to strengthen relations with customers and dealers, particularly when the global financial crisis in 2008 brought cutbacks in this area and, in an Australian context, as it transitions from a local manufacturer to a national sales company this year.

“I think we were a part of a bigger effort within Ford Australia to re-establish, to rebuild customer satisfaction, dealer engagement as well with the brand,” he said, pointing to the ‘Go Further 2020’ event as a milestone in December 2014, when Ford outlined its turnaround plan – including new models and customer service initiatives – for Australia beyond local manufacturing.

“We were part of that push to re-engage in a much more comprehensive way at that time and have been on that fun, adventurous journey ever since.”

Mr Weller said Sewells’ association with Ford started in South Africa in the 1990s, with its Australian program dating back to 2002.

It also runs programs with a variety of other brands including Holden, Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Penske Automotive and Daimler/Mercedes-Benz trucks.

“Our role with Ford, as a supplier, is to support their dealer (staff) training and education function as well as dealer process improvement and dealer financial health,” Mr Weller said.

The ‘process improvement’ revolves around the consumers’ experience at the dealership, Mr Weller said, ensuring that dealers have “consistent processes in place to make sure when customers come in to a dealership showroom or in service that their experience is the ‘signature’ Ford experience”.

“We help dealers build processes and the skills in their staff to be able to execute those processes and ensure that customers coming into a dealership see those things, experience those things, and see the touchpoints, I guess, of that experience,” he said.

Mr Weller said there were several measures of whether the program was successful, such as customer and dealer satisfaction surveys, and dealer profitability results.

Ford Australia brand communications manager Jasmine Mobarek described Sewells’ World Excellence Award as “an awesome testament to the fact that Ford is investing and placing a much more pronounced value on the importance of the consumer experience”.

“We can have amazing products … but that’s only as good as the service that a customer receives and the experience they have,” Ms Mobarek said.

“And so the heavy emphasis that we are placing there is paying dividends, not only from our (customer) satisfaction scores but also that the groups that we work with – that we trust to deliver on that experience for us – are also being rewarded and recognised for their efforts.”

In March, Detroit-based MSX International acquired Sewells Group for an undisclosed amount to become what it claims is the largest global provider of retail solutions to auto-makers and their dealers.

The deal is expected to add $US50 million ($A69m) to MSX’s $US600 million ($A830m) in annual revenue, while the extra 500 Sewells employees throughout Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East have taken the company’s total size to 6000 employees operating in 80 countries. Sewells is now operating as a subsidiary of MSX.

“Globalisation continues to drive change in the automotive industry, and OEMs are looking to partner with suppliers that can service their needs worldwide,” said MSX International CEO Fred Minturn.

“Together with our strong operations in North America and Europe, Sewells Group provides us with diversified and truly international opportunities to enhance value creation for our combined customer base.”

Sewells Group executive chairman Michael Boneham described the partnership as “a logical step for both businesses”.

“We plan to align and synergise our products and services for the benefit of our esteemed customers and offer even greater value,” he said.

“Together, the two companies offer the most compelling global end-to-end service offering for the automotive industry across all aspects of retail network performance.”

By Terry Martin