Parts supply: LKQ Europe partners with think tank on supply chain resilience
31 August 2022 
With parts availability being hindered by a number of factors including post-pandemic adjustments and the impact of the war in Ukraine, LKQ Europe is taking part in a new pilot project in partnership with think tank Project Zebra that is looking to show the way towards more resilient and efficient supply chains.
Project Zebra was founded in 2021 and includes among its ranks business leaders, academics, and technologists. The group is looking to introduce new methods from outside traditional supply chains. LKQ Europe set up a team that includes supply chain leaders and data analytics experts to implement the pilot into its business processes. Together with project partners, the initiating research company Supply Chain Insights, and enterprise AI software platform provider o9 Solutions, LKQ Europe will look to set in motion data-driven outside-in supply chain planning processes.
Claudia Martins, Vice President Logistics and Supply Chain at LKQ Europe observed: “Being selected as industry partner in Project Zebra’s research and using this new, innovative approach will enable us to sense customers and suppliers’ behaviour to changing market conditions and see the impact on our business early-on. By making intelligent use of these market signals, we expect to significantly reduce the decision response time in supply chain planning. With a more detailed forecast on supply and demand our planning will improve. We will be able to provide better services to our customers, by fostering our relationships with suppliers, saving time, resources, and cost.”
Igor Rikalo, President & Chief Operating Officer of o9 Solutions added: “Today’s supply chains are not very good at sensing, so it is difficult for them to respond. New planning capabilities can only be leveraged to their full potential if companies change their business models and planning processes. We are delighted to test this new outside-in approach and new forms of data analytics together with LKQ Europe and redefine its supply chain processes.”
LKQ Europe expects its supply chain planning to become more predictable and decision-making processes more agile as a result of the pilot, which will run through September.