Collaboration is in every corporate deck and on every conference room wall in this industry. Look it up, and you'll find two or more people or organizations working together to achieve a shared goal. That's it. So simple. So why is it still so hard for us to pull off in automotive?

In this solo episode, Jan goes straight at the silo mentality we inherited from Frederick Taylor in 1911 and asks what it'll take to stop playing games inside our own functions and start focusing on the outcome. Her answer is leadership and an enormous mindset shift.

She starts with news she was thrilled to see. Stellantis is bringing a handful of suppliers at a time into its North American headquarters for 10 weeks to work side by side with its engineers and manufacturing teams on fascias, fenders, lighting, and dashboards, starting with the next-generation Ram 1500. Jan has lived with early supplier involvement since the '80s, and she knows exactly where these programs break down. Trust on both sides. When the sourcing decision actually gets made. And whether we keep measuring suppliers on purchase price variance after launch, which throws resilience and total acquisition cost out the window.

Then she turns to China speed. Jan shares a slide from Terry Woychowski, president of Caresoft, that stopped her cold: an HV battery thermal vent breather cap from seven Chinese OEMs that look nearly identical, next to seven from the rest of the global OEMs that barely look like the same part. The message from the Chinese OEMs, and now from Toyota and Nissan, is simple. Collaborate on the things the customer never sees.

Jan connects the dots to Tesla's concurrent way of working, the common powertrain thinking at Horse Powertrain, and why you can't put AI on a broken process. She previews her upcoming panel at Reuters Events Automotive USA in Detroit and a November conversation with the head of purchasing at one of the largest OEMs on the planet.

This isn't a project you run once and walk away from. It has to become the way we do business, and it starts with putting the right people in the right room at the same time.

Themes Discussed in this Episode

• Why collaboration is still so hard in automotive
• Breaking the silo mentality from 1911
• Stellantis brings suppliers in-house for 10 weeks
• Trust and the timing of sourcing decisions
• Why PPV kills resilience and total acquisition cost
• China's speed and collaboration on what customers never see
• You can't put AI on a broken process
• Making collaboration the operating model, not a project

This episode is sponsored by Lockton, click here to learn more

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About Your Host – Jan Griffiths

Jan Griffiths is the champion for culture change and the host of the Automotive Leaders Podcast. A former automotive executive with a rebellious spirit, Jan is known for challenging outdated norms and inspiring leaders to ditch command and control. She brings honesty, energy, and courage to every conversation, proving that authentic, human-centered leadership is the future of the automotive industry.

Mentioned in this episode

• Reuters Events Automotive USA 2026 (Detroit, October 27 to 28)
• 21 Traits of Authentic Leadership (free PDF)
• Catalyst | Detroit: When AI Meets Manufacturing Reality (September 22nd 2026 | Detroit, Michigan)

Episode Highlights

[01:08] Collaboration is in every deck. Jan looks up the definition live and asks why something so simple is still so hard for this industry.

[02:03] Silos from 1911. We're still optimizing our own functions instead of crossing over to focus on the outcome of the business.

[03:32] Stellantis brings suppliers in for 10 weeks. Jan breaks down the Automotive News report on suppliers working directly with Stellantis engineers, starting with the next-generation Ram 1500.

[04:21] The two questions that make or break it. Will the supplier trust the OEM, and when does the sourcing decision actually get made?

[06:57] PPV versus resilience. Jan's lived early supplier involvement since the '80s, and she knows why it never sticks: if we keep measuring suppliers on purchase price variance after launch, resilience and total acquisition cost go out the window.

[08:13] China speed. The Chinese OEMs collaborate with each other far better than legacy OEMs, and now Toyota and Nissan are saying the same thing.

[08:48] Seven breather caps. Terry Woychowski's slide shows near-identical parts across seven Chinese OEMs and seven completely different designs from the rest of the world.

[10:22] The Reuters panel. Jan previews her Detroit panel with leaders from Karma Automotive, NIO, and Volkswagen, where collaboration takes center stage.

[13:01] One powertrain, many OEMs. Jan's conversation with Tom Lewis of Horse Powertrain points to what common systems could look like.

[14:03] Don't put AI on a broken process. Fix the process, push decision-making down, and cut cycle time before you scale AI.

Top Quotes

[09:33] Jan Griffiths: “Why don't we collaborate on the things that the consumer doesn't see?”

[14:03] Jan Griffiths: “You can't put AI on a broken process or an old process that's too slow.”

[15:07] Jan Griffiths: “Speed gets built in the room. Make sure the right people are in it.”

If this episode resonated, share it with a fellow automotive leader and subscribe to The Automotive Leaders Podcast, where we’re shaping the future of authentic leadership in the automotive industry.

This podcast episode is also available on YouTube. Check out our YouTube channel at Jangriffithsautomotiveleaders

Send us your feedback or questions — email Jan at [email protected].

[Transcript]

[00:00:39] This episode is brought to you by Lockton. Rising benefit costs aren't inevitable for you or your employees when you break through the status quo. Independence matters, it means Lockton can bring you creative, tailored solutions that truly serve your business and your people. At Lockton, clients, associates, and communities come first, not margins and not mediocrity. Meet the moment with Lockton.

[00:01:34] It's probably on every conference room. In fact, you know what? I am gonna look up, right now, exactly what it means. What does Webster say it means? Let's see. Let's have a look.

[00:02:01] Wow! So simple, isn't it?

[00:02:26] And we focus very much on optimizing our individual silos, but what is it gonna take to get us away from that mentality, where we focus on crossing over those silos and focusing on the outcome of the business, of the function, whatever it is?

[00:03:32] Maybe it's a cross-functional team that does that. We often talk about bringing in the supplier early on in the process, and I have to tell you, I was thrilled to see an article by Kurt Nagl in Automotive News, yesterday actually, and he is reporting on the fact that Stellantis is now bringing a handful of suppliers in at a time into its North American headquarters for 10 weeks.

[00:04:21] Now, we've been here before. We've said this before, and I have every confidence in Marcelo and the team in Stellantis that they will pull this off. But here's some of the roadblocks that we've had to work through to get through an early supplier involvement program in the past, and that is, trust. Will the supplier trust the OEM?

[00:05:14] I don't know. If anybody knows the answer to that question, I'd love to know, because I think that's gonna be critical. 'Cause if you're the supplier that's selected for the business and you have trust, there's trust on both sides. There's trust that the OEM is gonna follow the sourcing path and actually source the business to you, and there's trust from the OEM to the supplier that you're gonna give it your very best efforts, and you are gonna put in a lot of work and resources to essentially co-design these products to reduce both cost and timing.

[00:06:16] This episode is powered by Seraph. When manufacturing leaders need to launch scale, relocate production, or navigate supply chain disruption, they call Seraph. Hands-on operators. Measurable results. Learn more @seraph.com.

[00:06:57] Because a lot of things are gonna have to change, not only how we make the supplier selection decision, but then how do we measure the supplier after the product is launched? If we continue to focus on PPV, purchase price variance, then resilience is gonna go out the window. Total acquisition cost goes out the window.

[00:08:01] And I'm not gonna tell you who it is. You're gonna have to wait and see, because I hate to put out a name until we actually record the person. But keep an eye out for it in November. But okay, I digress. Let's go back to this.

[00:08:26] I mean, the thought of it. Can you imagine GM and Ford and Stellantis collaborating on a component or a part or on a design? And the message that's coming through from the Chinese OEMs, and now we're starting to hear it from the Japanese OEMs, from Toyota and from Nissan, is we need to collaborate more together.

[00:09:10] And on the left-hand side of this slide, he showed a picture of seven different Chinese OEMs and exactly what that component looked like. And if you look at the slide, and I know this is audio and you can't see it, but if you look at the slide, they look all pretty much the same. No, not exactly, but pretty much the same.

[00:09:58] So the things that really are important to the vehicle that the customer touches and sees, okay, that's, you know, you probably don't want to mess with that. But if it's something that's under the hood that the consumer really couldn't care less about, then why can't we collaborate on that? It's something that we've really got to take seriously.

[00:10:53] And, I want to go deep into this subject of collaboration and see what they all have to say. It's gonna be fascinating. If you're in Detroit and you're planning to attend the Reuters Automotive Conference later this month, please make sure you drop into my panel session and say hello. So this is about taking a different view of the business, a different view of how we operate, and really asking ourselves what makes sense?

[00:11:48] That can be an advantage, but it can also hold you back. We know that Tesla very much operates in a more concurrent engineer and collaborative way, getting all the people in the same room at the same time. Now, it's not easy, I know that, but we need to take this seriously now, and that's why I'm thrilled to see what's happening at Stellantis, and I'll be watching very closely to monitor the results.

[00:12:27] Brought to you by UHY.

[00:12:40] Check out the white paper. The link is in the show notes.

[00:13:01] My last episode, I had Tom Lewis from Horse Powertrain on, and that's a fascinating concept. Now imagine getting the OEMs to buy one powertrain system, a common powertrain system that goes to different OEMs, a common engine. Wow. I think we're going to learn a lot from Horse Powertrain.

[00:14:03] Because the other thing that we're struggling with is AI. You can't put AI on a broken process or an old process that's too slow. Why would you? Why would you do that? So now is the time to look at our processes, look at the way we operate, look at the decision-making hierarchy, and start to push decision-making down, start to reduce the cycle time.

[00:14:48] Start somewhere simple. Start by thinking about, okay, what process or what product, or pick an area of your business right now that you can put the right people in the right room at the same time.

[00:15:15] And I'll see you next time.