AGCO, a global leader in agricultural machinery and precision agriculture technologies, hosted its Europe Middle East (EME) Supplier Day on January 25, 2022. AGCO recognises its top-performing suppliers in several categories during this annual event, including innovative solutions, service and corporate sustainability. This year, Hexagon | NovAtel was the proud recipient of AGCO’s 2021 Quality & Delivery Performance Award in recognition of our supply chain management.
“This award is to recognise how NovAtel continued to go the extra mile to support AGCO during the ongoing supply crisis,” AGCO explained. “Despite the tremendous headwinds, NovAtel provided AGCO with an ‘On Time in Full’ service performance of 100%, even adding volume above and beyond the forecasts on short notice in Q3/4 to maximise the number of customer orders that AGCO was able to fulfill in 2021.”
As a provider of high-precision GNSS positioning and correction services for OEMs across industries, NovAtel leads in world-class customer support, product integration assistance and over 12 years of lean manufacturing experience. We’re proud to accept AGCO’s award and look forward to our ongoing collaboration in 2022.
Disruptions across the global supply chain
The world is facing a supply chain crisis. Most major companies are experiencing bare shelves, back orders and project delays as the world tries to regain its footing after initial protocol changes when the COVID-19 pandemic began. As COVID restrictions, labour and import and export regulations fluctuate, there are increased strains on global shipping. Suppliers manufactured and shipped cargo, but rail and trucking services struggle to meet the backlogged demand, stretching capacities at ports around the world.
As a manufacturer and supplier of specialised equipment, especially for Precision Agriculture OEMs, we had already positioned our supply chain to be robust and resilient to delays and disruptions outside our control. Much of NovAtel’s success in mitigating supply chain interruptions to our customers lies in our lean manufacturing processes. Our manufacturing facilities were recognised by the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME) in 2014 when we received AME’s Excellence Award. AME evaluates manufacturers on their continuous improvement strategies, innovation and collaborative best practices.
Lean manufacturing success
Our lean manufacturing processes have been a differentiator of NovAtel for over a decade and the results speak for themselves. In addition to AGCO’s 2021 Quality & Delivery Performance Award, NovAtel was named Ag Leader’s Supplier of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2020. These awards validate the efforts of our teams to deliver high-quality products, deliver on time and provide exceptional customer service.
Velocity magazine recently profiled Isabel Murguia, Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division’s VP of operations, providing an inside look at how lean manufacturing and her leadership have resulted in NovAtel’s success. She shares her supply chain philosophy and explains how “it gives us the flexibility and continuous improvement needed to cope with the challenges to meet ever-changing demand.”
“More now than ever, the supply chain is all about building resiliency. This is only created through the transparency and effective supply chain solutions we constantly develop with our suppliers and offer to our customers.”
Murguia’s approach to the global supply chain is emblematic of NovAtel’s ethos in supplying high-precision GNSS technologies to OEM customers. We are proud of our teams’ efforts and honoured to be recognised by AGCO’s Quality & Delivery Performance Award for 2021.