Volkswagen Overhauls Procurement For Its Dealers

Automaker Volkswagen is looking to make the process by which its individual dealers procure vehicles faster and far more cost efficient. Reports published Friday (June 12) said that Volkswagen Group is rolling out new updates to its Leaselink platform in the aim of saving thousands of hours — and, in return, dollars — a year.

Reports said that under the current system, Volkswagen requires dealers to manually input vehicle order statuses when they procure from leasing companies. This applies to all 700 dealers throughout Volkswagen’s five brands: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

An update to Leaselink will automate the process of adding various data points like vehicle VIN number, engine number, and registration information. The automaker said that it gets as many as 20,000 orders, and that it takes workers as much as an hour to upload 100 vehicle status updates into the system.

“These new systems will save our dealers precious time and help reduce errors,” said Volkswagen Group fleet services customer relationship manager Amanda Morgan. “Once we have completed the second phase, leasing companies will have a clearer view of their orders with us and a more complete picture of build and delivery times.”

The updates are now running in pilot testing phase; Morgan said that widespread rollout should be completed by August. At present, Volkswagen said that about 70 percent of its annual leasing company order volume goes through Leaselink. About one-third of dealers are already using the platform.

Volkswagen’s updates, which will make ordering processes more efficient and transparent, are likely to improve relationships among players in the company’s supply chain. Research released last month found that the auto industry is particularly susceptible to effects from positive buyer/supplier relationships. In the U.S., researchers found that the leading carmakers missed out on $2 billion because they failed to adequately improve relationships with manufacturers.