* Ford Motor Company purchased $3.6 billion in goods and services from Tier One minority business enterprises (MBE) in 2006.
* Ford's Tier One suppliers reported over $1.8 billion in spend with minority and women's business enterprises.
* Ford's women's business enterprise (WBE) program sourced over $855 million with Tier One women-owned suppliers.

Ford Motor Company maintained its commitment to sourcing with diverse suppliers last year by purchasing a combined $5.4 billion in goods and services from its minority and women's business enterprises in calendar year 2006. The figures reflect direct spending of $3.6 billion with Tier One minority and women suppliers and an additional $1.8 billion in purchases at the Tier Two level.

"I am pleased that Ford Motor Company continues to advance its sourcing to minority and women-owned businesses, which helps ensure that the business reflects the demographics of its customer base," said Tony (Thomas K.) Brown, senior vice president, Global Purchasing.



Ford's women business enterprises program has seen year-over-year increases since the inception of the formal establishment of the program in 2003. Last year, Ford directly purchased over $855 million in goods and services from women-owned businesses.

Consistent with its drive for innovation, Ford Motor Company uses a patented, technology-based platform, the M-Tier Diversity Reporting System, to capture Tier Two purchases with minority and women-owned suppliers and verify their MBE and WBE certifications. M-Tier also provides Ford with credible data to assess the impact on diverse supplier sourcing at all levels of the Ford value chain.

Ford maintains supplier diversity reporting requirements for Tier One companies and encourages the use of the M-Tier Diversity Reporting System as a tool for managing a structured, programmatic approach for utilizing minority and women owned suppliers.

"Growing our business with minority and women suppliers is part of our strategy to be good corporate citizens in the communities where we do business," said Armando Ojeda, director, Supplier Diversity Development, Global Purchasing. "Ford Motor Company understands the importance of having its supply base reflect its customer base."


Source: Ford Motor Company