Expediting in the automotive aftermarket industry

This study is based on a six months internship within an expediting team in the field of automotive aftermarket industry. One of its purpose is to describe what expediting is and what is its relevance in today’s business world. The importance of doing expediting varies from indus- try to industry: while in some industries like manufacturing and construction it represents a very crucial activity, in others it is not so critical. The study also addresses the impact of new technologies on procurement and expediting: the increasing automation of routine tasks is shifting the role of expeditors from operational and repetitive duties to more strategic functions. An analysis of the automotive aftermarket industry follows. It is described how this industry is structured, who are the main actors, how it is expected to evolve and what are the main challenges that industry participants will be facing. Then it is described the context of the internship experience and how the expe- diting activity was performed. Finally, the study evaluates whether doing expediting is a value added activity for the company, given the company and industry characteristics. The con- clusion is that a reasonable investment in expediting is beneficial for business operations, but it must be supported by a strong procurement department.