Gaining Cost-Effective Visibility into Upstream Supply Chain Risk

A global automotive manufacturer extended its supply chain risk visibility beyond Tier 1 suppliers by deploying a shared, data-driven system to surface upstream risk early and at scale.

Context

The client is a leading automotive manufacturer with a U.S.-based production footprint, manufacturing over 600,000 vehicles globally. The company works with more than 600 domestic Tier 1 parts suppliers across North America and has purchased over $37 billion in parts over the past five years.

While the organization maintained strong visibility into its direct suppliers, much of the broader supply chain operated outside its immediate line of sight.

Challenge

The company faced growing concern around supply chain risk beyond its Tier 1 suppliers. Although Tier 1 vendors were well understood, there was limited visibility into Tier 2 suppliers—the upstream vendors providing materials and components to Tier 1 partners.

Failures or disruptions at the Tier 2 level could cascade across multiple Tier 1 suppliers, creating significant operational risk. The challenge was to surface this upstream risk without imposing heavy cost, operational burden, or friction on suppliers, while also aligning incentives across the ecosystem.

Solution

We designed and deployed a secure, web-based portal that enabled Tier 1 suppliers to self-report their Tier 2 supply base in a structured and scalable way. This created a shared system for capturing upstream supplier relationships without requiring direct intervention from the manufacturer.

Through a partnership with a global provider of predictive supplier risk data, we integrated risk-based metrics into the platform and delivered updated insights on a recurring cadence. We also brokered a commercial model that allowed Tier 1 suppliers to participate at a nominal per-supplier cost, making adoption practical and sustainable.

This approach provided the manufacturer with consolidated visibility into Tier 2 risk while preserving supplier autonomy and minimizing disruption to existing procurement workflows.

Impact

The company gained cost-effective, ongoing visibility into upstream supply chain risk that had previously been opaque. By identifying potential Tier 2 vulnerabilities earlier, the organization was able to collaborate more effectively with Tier 1 suppliers to mitigate risk before disruptions occurred.

The system extended the manufacturer’s risk awareness beyond its immediate network, strengthened supplier relationships, and introduced a scalable foundation for managing supply chain risk across a complex, multi-tier ecosystem.