Ford purchasing chief: Supply chain will have a bumpy ride in 2007

Detroit, Michigan – Even after 36 major US supplier bankruptcies since 1999, Ford Motor Co. purchasing chief Tony Brown warns that the supply chain shakeout could worsen this year.

The number of suppliers on Ford’s watch list is up 44 percent from last year, he said, and excess capacity could make 2007 the year of the shakeout. The pace of bankruptcies, including liquidations, rose 30 percent in 2006 over 2005, he said.

Brown told the Automotive New World Congress last week that overcapacity in the injection…