Chrysler Group embraced its “Pure Michigan” roots today, opening its doors to host a unique event aimed at matching its own business needs and those of its largest Tier 1 suppliers with hopeful Michigan businesses.
Chrysler Connect 2013, hosted by Chrysler and Pure Michigan Business Connect, in partnership with the Detroit Regional Chamber, connected small Michigan businesses with buying teams with significant purchasing power in an effort to spur economic and job growth in the state.
The Pure Michigan Business Connect supplier summits are exclusive purchaser-supplier matchmaking engagements that provide procurement opportunities to Michigan vendors. MEDC and the Detroit Regional Chamber merged the Chamber’s Connection Point events with Pure Michigan Business Connect in January 2013, and have since conducted supplier summits with nearly 70 other purchasers.
Suppliers from all over Michigan in industries from welding to facility management applied to participate in the event. Chrysler and its top suppliers submitted areas of need in advance and the MEDC matched those needs with applicants. More than 300 strategically targeted “matches” were made based on the types of goods and services the larger companies had identified, and the companies were provided the opportunity to meet face to face while at the event.
“We are thrilled to offer these small Michigan businesses a platform to showcase their goods and services to potential customers,” said Scott Kunselman, Senior Vice President, Purchasing and Supplier Quality, Chrysler Group. “Chrysler is very proud that our home state is full of such innovative, forward-thinking and hard-working entrepreneurs. They are a huge asset to our state and our economy.”
A total of 17 Chrysler buyers and engineers and 26 supplier representatives participated in the event. Chrysler purchased more than $9 billion in direct materials and another approximately $3 billion in indirect services from Michigan suppliers in 2012.