Negotiations conducted
Suppliers
Euro quality costs compensated
Vehicle manufacturer
Automotive Quality Consulting supports Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers in professionally managing and sustainably reducing quality costs and supplier recovery.
Quality costs, warranty expenses and recovery claims are among the most significant — and most frequently underestimated — profit drivers in the automotive industry. Many suppliers lose 1–2% of their annual revenue due to high OEM chargebacks, incorrectly assessed failure rates, or insufficiently substantiated warranty and recovery cases.
As a specialised consultancy for supplier recovery, quality cost optimisation and claim management in the automotive industry, Automotive Quality Consulting combines technical root cause analysis, data-based failure assessment, commercial counter-calculation, and robust legal and contractual argumentation.
Our 12 levers for reducing quality costs clearly identify where technical, data-driven, commercial and contractual measures can be applied effectively.
This is how we sustainably reduce your quality and recovery costs, minimise risks, and strengthen your position in demanding negotiations with OEMs.
When assessing recovery claims, it must be clarified whether the trade dispute between the United States and China constitutes the root cause of the issue, says Christof Lorenz, founder of Automotive Quality Consulting and expert in supplier recovery and damage compensation in the automotive industry.
In such cases, one may ultimately be dealing with force majeure. Given the seriousness of the situation, manufacturers and suppliers should not act against one another, but rather work together — as this is the only way to safeguard supply capability and vehicle quality in the long term.
The following practical examples from quality strategy, claim management, warranty consulting and negotiation support demonstrate what we achieve for suppliers — result-driven, hands-on and risk-free.
Situation
An OEM claim of €10 million based on the alleged responsibility of a mid-sized supplier in the context of a vehicle recall.
Result
The development of a robust technical and legal argumentation, combined with strategic negotiation support, resulted in a settlement of €0.25 million.
Situation
Significantly increased and steadily rising warranty costs over several years across all OEM customers of a supplier — without transparency and without clear allocation of responsibility.
Result
By analysing failure behaviour across all customers, systematising the analyses and applying commercial evaluation, warranty costs were reduced by more than 60%.
Situation
An OEM asserted a flat-rate serial defect claim of €2.1 million, despite unclear technical responsibility and an insufficient data basis.
Result
Through technical root cause analysis, variant comparison and commercial counter-evaluation, the claim was reduced to €0.3 million.
Situation
An OEM withheld €0.6 million, arguing that analysis results for HV components were not considered sufficiently robust.
Result
Following technical assessment, data reconciliation and clarification of liability boundaries, a settlement of €0.2 million was achieved — including the continuation of further business projects.
Christof Lorenz is the founder and Managing Director of Automotive Quality Consulting GmbH and an expert in quality costs, supplier recovery, and strategic OEM negotiations.
He has many years of experience in senior roles at OEMs as well as in advising automotive suppliers. Across more than one hundred cases, he has successfully negotiated complex recovery and quality cost issues.
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The most important technical, data-driven and commercial levers to systematically and sustainably reduce quality and recovery costs.
An analysis of structural supply chain vulnerabilities and concrete recommendations for suppliers in the areas of quality, recovery and risk.
In a free initial discussion, we identify your largest cost-saving potentials related to quality, warranty and recovery costs.
