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The pace of change in automotive supply chains isn’t slowing down, and waiting for OEM direction is no longer an option. 

Regulations, tariffs, sustainability requirements, and labor laws are reshaping the way suppliers operate, and the companies that act first are the ones that stay ahead. 

That’s where AIAG comes in. In this episode, Tanya Bolden, VP of Supply Chain and Corporate Responsibility, walks through how her team is tackling the issues keeping suppliers up at night.

She starts with tariffs, a constant pressure point. AIAG is working with members to create common reporting templates that reduce confusion and repeated requests up and down the chain. 

From there, the conversation moves to the Forced Labor Due Diligence Program, where six major OEMs are aligned. Tanya explains how global legislation drives the need for complete visibility, and what happens if companies fail to comply—such as seized shipments at the border, missed deadlines, and increased costs that ripple throughout the entire supply chain.

Sustainability is another focus. AIAG is expanding IMDS to include carbon footprint reporting at the part level, tying compliance to the lean principles already familiar to the industry. 

Tanya also highlights AIAG’s role as the North American hub for Catena-X, giving suppliers new tools to connect and share data faster across tiers.

Training remains central too. With seasoned professionals retiring and new people entering the industry, AIAG offers over 50 programs to keep knowledge flowing and prepare the workforce for today’s challenges.

Tanya wraps up with a look at AIAG’s upcoming events and one reminder to every supply chain leader: Don’t try to take this on alone. Collaboration among OEMs, suppliers, and associations makes the industry stronger and better prepared for the future.

Themes discussed in this episode:

• The growing pressure on suppliers to act proactively instead of waiting for OEM direction
• How AIAG is streamlining tariff reporting with standardized templates across the supply chain
• Why the Forced Labor Due Diligence Program demands complete supply chain visibility to raw materials
• How six global OEMs are working with AIAG to align on compliance and industry standards
• The role of Catena-X in boosting supply chain connectivity, transparency, and data sharing
• How lean manufacturing principles support sustainability goals and help reduce carbon emissions
• The value of AIAG training programs in transferring knowledge and preparing the next generation of supply chain leaders
• How AIAG events and industry collaboration help suppliers adapt to new regulations and global requirements

Featured on this episode:

Name: Tanya Bolden

Title: Vice President of Supply Chain and Corporate Responsibility at Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)

About: Tanya Bolden is Vice President of Supply Chain and Corporate Responsibility at AIAG, where she leads initiatives that connect sustainability, compliance, and collaboration across the automotive industry. With more than 30 years of experience, she brings deep expertise in corporate responsibility, sustainability, community relations, and supply chain management.

Her work focuses on the issues that matter most today — from environmental stewardship and sustainability to global forced labor compliance and supply chain transparency. She is well-versed in navigating regulations such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), guiding companies in proving supply chain integrity and staying ahead of enforcement trends.

Connect: LinkedIn

Mentioned in this episode:

• Champions of Manufacturing Europe
• Forced Labor Due Diligence Program
• Catena-X
• AIAG International Material Data System (IMDS)
• Materials Management Operations Guideline/Logistics Evaluation (MMOG/LE)
• AIAG IMDS, Product Compliance & Sustainability Conference
• AIAG North American Customs and Trade Town Hall
• AIAG Training Catalog 

Episode Highlights:

[03:51] Proactive, Not Passive: Suppliers can no longer wait for OEM instructions; they need to establish their own policies and procedures to stay ahead of fast-moving regulations and customer expectations.

[08:50] Forced Labor in Focus: Global legislation is demanding full supply chain visibility, and AIAG is leading efforts to ensure companies can prove their goods are free from forced labor.

[11:00] When OEMs Don’t Align: Without a common approach to forced labor compliance, the industry faces chaos and inconsistent reporting standards.

[14:07] IMDS Uncovered: The International Material Data System, long used for material reporting, is now being expanded to address sustainability.

[15:21] Data Without Borders: By managing enormous amounts of supply chain data, Catena-X gives companies the transparency they need to meet strict global regulations.

[17:16] Passing Down Knowledge: With experienced supply chain professionals retiring, AIAG stresses the importance of structured training to capture decades of expertise and pass it on to new talent.

[19:45] AIAG Event Season: Tanya Bolden stresses the value of networking and promotes AIAG’s IMDS and Product Chemical Conference (Oct 8–10, Novi) and the Customs and Trade Town Hall (Nov 6, Detroit).

[21:44] Don’t Go It Alone: Tanya Bolden reminds leaders that some challenges can’t be solved in isolation, urging them to use AIAG and industry associations as safe spaces to collaborate, share issues openly, and build solutions that lift the entire supply chain.

Top Quotes:

[04:11] Tanya: “As our supply chains grow globally, there are certain expectations they have of us. And quite often, they're not allowing us the time and the luxury of time to be able to prepare. So, we need our supply chain to be proactive and not wait. Not wait until their customer tells them, but be proactive in establishing their own internal policies and procedures to make them a better supplier to their customers.”

[22:05] Tanya: “You don't have to do it alone. I think that it is indicative in our industry to be competitive, but there are certain issues that you benefit from working with your colleagues, your customers, and your competitors to address.”

[Transcript]

[00:00:27] Jim Liegghio: I'm Jim Liegghio from AIAG.

[00:00:36] Jan Griffiths: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Auto Supply Chain Prophets podcast. Let's check in with my co-host, Terry Onica. What have you been up to?

AI, right now, I hear so much about it, but we're gonna have customers on stage sharing their own personal experiences at using it with QAD solutions, and so I'm super excited to hear about the real life case studies and the benefits to their organization.

[00:01:15] Jim Liegghio: Well, the question, Jan, is what isn't going on right now? It's back to school season, right? We're getting involved with our programs with Wayne State resuming for the fall. We've coming up on event season for AIAG, right? October, September, October is our event season. A lot going on there, which we'll hear more from Tanya today on some of that. But yeah, there's a lot happening. In the space, of course, automotive never slows down even though it's been summertime. So looking forward to all that fall brings, and we're getting into it here at AIAG.

It's another Model T moment for Ford, right? So it's that big of a change. 40% reduction in the workstations, 20% reduction in the number of parts. I mean, they have modeled it after, you know, a little bit of Tesla influence there with the modular design, the way that they're gonna manufacture this.

But I was thinking about the way that we do business that goes along with that because you can redesign the product, you can redesign how you make it, but if your business systems and the way you operate, and yes, I'm gonna say it, the culture doesn't change along with it, then it's no good.

And I was thinking about the influence that the OEMs have on the supply base. The OEMs really determine the way that this industry goes, 'cause we all follow the tier ones, follow the tier twos follow. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a conference room and they go, "Well, GM does that so we gotta do that," or, "Ford does that so we gotta do that." They're so linked to the behavior of the OEMs and often the tiers sit back and wait for the OEMs. And we can't do that anymore. We cannot wait. We have got to stay in front of whatever is coming at us in this automotive industry.

If we sit and wait for the OEMs to tell us what to do, we're gonna be in a world of hurt. That's why I'm thrilled that our guest on the show today is Tanya Bolden from AIAG. She leads the Supply Chain and Corporate Responsibility team at AIAG, and she understands better than most why we need to be ahead of the OEMs in the supply base and not wait for it all to roll downhill. So, there's an opening, Tanya, take it away.

But at the same time, we know that legislators and regulators are also seeing this. And as our supply chains grow globally, there's certain expectations they have of us. And quite often, they're not allowing us the time and the luxury of time to be able to prepare. So, we need our supply chain to be proactive and not wait. Not wait until their customer tells them, but be proactive and establishing their own internal policies and procedures to make them a better supplier to their customers.

[00:04:53] Tanya Bolden: Well, let me tell you a little bit about AIAG. I know you three are familiar with this, but for some of your readers who aren't as familiar with AIAG, we've been in existence since 1982. We were formed to focus on the supply chain. We were formed to help reduce cost and complexity. We bring forward products and solutions based in the quality area, based in our corporate responsibility area, as well as our supply chain management area.

And I'm fortunate enough to be able to lead the latter two. So, I am the AIAG Vice President of our Corporate Responsibility and Supply Chain Programs and Services. So, what does all that mean? That means that my team and I are focused on issues that range from where a mineral may come out of the ground on the other side of the world, to the vehicle that's rolling off of the truck at the dealership, and everything in between.

So we are constantly focused on education and awareness. We want to be that bellwether out there, letting the industry know this is coming, be aware of it. These are the expectations of your customers, adhere to those, embrace those, become operational around those. So, it's our mission that we've been working on this 40 some years, and we continue to do that today.

Now, there's some areas that are more prominent than others and we know that ebbs and flows. Right now, there's not a conversation that I have on a given day that somehow doesn't touch tariffs. That's a big project for us. We are working to help industry one, not only create awareness because you may read a lot of things in the news about an executive order that comes out, but what does it really mean?

And through our membership, we're able to convene subject matter experts that come together to create resources, information, podcasts such as this, webinars to really distill the information and make it digestible. But also, with the expertise and insight from our subject matter volunteers, they can really help a company, especially those who may be less resourced, those who are further into the supply chain that are really struggling to understand how do these issues impact them.

What they need to remember is if it impacts their customer, it does impact them. So, tariffs is one of the things that we're focused on. Most recently, we've been focusing a great deal of attention on coming together with our member companies to develop common reporting templates. Seems pretty simple, but when you have companies that are trying to gather information, inevitably, they're going to ask the same question different ways. And you have tier ones who are trying to respond to their customers, but then it rolls down because the tier ones may ask the question in a different manner. And we all know that we have such a complex supply chain, so you can just imagine how many requests a tier three, four, or five supplier could be receiving from their various customers, and it's unmanageable.

So, we at AIAG, have focused a great deal of attention, as I mentioned, on tariffs and coming up with a common reporting template. So you know the information that you need to report, let's say, on steel and aluminum and copper derivatives. It's a common request. And so we've put a lot of emphasis there. So, tariffs is one of the major things that we're focused on.

So, number one, tell us a little bit about the Forced Labor Due Diligence Program that you've been working on. And number two, what's some of that secret sauce that you have stirred up there to get these OEMs to the same table and ascribing to the same principles?

So AIAG is fortunate to enjoy on this program OEM alignment by six OEMs: Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan, Stellantis, and Toyota. And as far as the secret sauce, it's the need. It's the common need that those OEMs have to make sure that their suppliers are proactive and able to be a strength that an asset to the OEM's supply chain. So that's maintaining the common focus is really the strength, that's the secret sauce. And AIAG working with them to facilitate the engagement and to also use our strength in reaching out to the vast number of suppliers in the industry that we touch. And that's how we are really focused on, bringing forward resources and tools that help. Online tools, trainings, events. We have a myriad of things that we have accessible on our website.

[00:11:00] Tanya Bolden: If the OEMs don't align, it creates chaos because the OEMs must comply. Keeping in mind with this legislation, the enforcement body on that is US Customs and Border Protection. And the statute states that if CBP has intel that allows them to kind of red flag a shipment, that shipment cannot enter the country at any border, regardless of its mode of transportation, CBP will stop that shipment.

CBP also requires that company to prove visibility, that they have visibility and can verify that forced labor was not used in the production of those goods or services all the way down to the raw material. That's the kicker. That's complete visibility, and it doesn't matter if you are an OEM. It doesn't matter if you are a tier one. It doesn't matter if you're importing cotton or if you are importing other production parts, CBP can seize it.

Oh, and the other little interesting thing is, you have 30 days to give them that proof. If you cannot, that shipment does not enter the country. You have to return it to where it was, or you have to destroy it. In any event, you've got a delay to your delivery schedule and you've got unexpected cost.

[00:12:39] Tanya Bolden: Yes, that is very true, Jim. It is. You have to prove the negative. So, back to your question, Jan, if the OEMs don't align, and I mentioned six, that may just put in a plug that we're open to including other OEMs to participate in this initiative. But if the OEMs don't come together and align, that creates chaos within the industry because they're going to have to report to CBP. Now, they either do it in a common way or they do it six different ways. That's what we don't want.

[00:13:20] Terry Onica: And you know, I've been a volunteer at AIAG for many years, as you all know, and one of the things that I think is such a beauty about AIAG is bringing the OEMs together to talk about best practices. And I really encourage anybody listening today to get involved at AIAG because it's only in the debate that we make things better and we make it more common. And that's just the place to have your voice heard. And I do hear OEMs that listen to feedback, right? We do really work on things that matter and we always are really trying to commonize. So, I think this is the place to go to hear your voice when you have any kind of frustrations or any even good ideas to bring to the industry. AIAG to me is the best place to go.

[00:14:06] Tanya Bolden: Well, can I provide another current project that we're working on that's getting a lot of attention? And this one's forward leaning. So, I think one of the best kept secrets within the automotive industry is IMDS, which is our International Material Data Systems.

It's what automotive uses to report material composition. Well, that the foresight of the IMDS steering committee, they are now going to be reporting carbon at a part level. Now, we know that carbon, or in this case, product carbon footprint, is so important.

Again, there's legislation, a lot of it is coming out of Europe that is requiring visibility in the supply chain, which leads the supplier to conduct their due diligence. And AIAG is working on a project right now focused on the expansion of IMDS into sustainability to report product carbon footprint. This is a big project for us as well.

[00:15:19] Tanya Bolden: Correct.

[00:15:42] Jim Liegghio: Yeah, and there's a really interesting use case in the Catena-X space on product carbon footprint. So, if people haven't applied, a shameless plug there, if you haven't heard about that use case with the Catena-X program, definitely check that out. There's some real testimonials to how that program's helped product carbon footprint as well.

[00:16:26] Terry Onica: And I'm so excited about Catena-X because everything you talk about, we gotta get surveys down the supply chain, we gotta get assessments down the supply chain, everything we have to get down the supply chain and we gotta get down fast. And today, it goes one tier at a time, right? And I see that as such a big promise of Catena-X to finally connect us.

[00:17:09] Terry Onica: So, today in the industry, just switching a little bit here, but a little bit you touched on earlier is training. So, right now, we have a lot of new people coming on board, some retiring. Just a lot of training that needs to go on in the industry. And so, in supply chain, what are some of the classes that you see are most needed in this type of environment? Any thoughts on that?

We have some basic trainings, some supply chain essentials training to help those who are new. You know, after COVID, people didn't necessarily know what the supply chain was before COVID, but everybody realized after, you know, throughout COVID, what the supply chain was. When you went to purchase something or order something, and they said, sure, you can order it. The delivery date is in 10 months.

And so, that woke everyone up, but that's a good thing. It brought more people to the supply chain. But we have to level set those individuals with tried and true information that we know. So that's another area we have for training with our forced labor. I mean, I just gave you all a snippet of what the legislation requires in the US, and again, that's the US. Legislation on forced labor is rather stringent. But again, there's also legislation in other countries.

So, it doesn't matter where you're importing. You have to understand that these laws out there and they pertain to you. So we provide trainings to help companies understand what are this legislation, how does it impact you? How do you build a business case for that to socialize that internal to your company? But again, I go back to the watch word. When we talk about so many of these supply chain issues, is be proactive. Companies have to prepare research and understand the risk and mitigate those risks to their supply chain.

Hey, I know a guy that happens to know a thing or two about training at AIAG. So if anybody listening needs some more information, definitely check us out at AIAG.org. We offer 56, I think, different training classes now, so definitely check us out. Tanya, speaking of training, I mentioned earlier during my intro that we're heading into event season. You've got some key critical events dealing in some of these specific areas. Why don't you just take a second and explain those dates and times to the audience so that they're aware.

And that's one of the key facets of AIAG's events. So coming up and in the very near future, we have our IMDS and Product Chemical Conference that is going to be October 8th, 9th, and 10th at Suburban Collection in Novi, Michigan. And then after that, we're going to have our Customs and Trade Town Hall. It's our North American Customs and Trade Town Hall event, and that's going to be in the heart of downtown Detroit on November the 6th.

I know oftentimes we talk about it, but if you wanna go back again and you don't wanna necessarily listen to the whole podcast. Again, we're gonna put it on the website. Make it easy for you to go click on 'em and find out more information.

[00:21:11] Jan Griffiths: Sure.

So, in addition to a plethora of webinars that we're doing, AIAG will be doing more virtual events in 2026, so stay tuned. Terry, thank you all for putting that out on your website. We will do our best to help populate that page.

[00:22:05] Tanya Bolden: You don't have to go it alone. I think that it is indicative in our industry to be competitive, but there's certain issues that you benefit from working with your colleagues and your customers and your competitors to address.

That's why AIAG was started 40 plus years ago because there are safe spaces, if you will, in industry that you don't have to wear your competitive hat, that you could come together, work together, identify solutions that benefit your companies, your suppliers, the overall industry. And I would just send that message: don't feel you have to go it alone. Engage with the associations. AIAG is doing a great deal of work and other associations that we work with as well are doing a great deal of work. So engage with your industry association. Take advantage and learn and hear what they're doing and bring your issues to them if there's not another solution out there for you.

[00:23:18] Tanya Bolden: Thank you for the invitation. I enjoy being here.