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I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Farhan Mirza, President of BAFF Consultants Inc., to discuss vehicle customization by original equipment manufacturer (OEM) automakers and its impact on the supply chain of the future. Mirza notes that customization is a significant market trend and believes the entire supply chain will require transformation as the customization of vehicles becomes a mainstream approach to production. In the interview that follows, Mirza will introduce some of the supply chain challenges which will need to be addressed to reap the profit potential.

Dustin Mattison (DM): What is the customization of vehicles trend?

Farhan Mirza (FM): In the US market alone, of the vehicles sold, 17 million are new. China, obviously, is a formidable force and is overtaking the US now. And then there was a McKinsey article, which commented recently, that in the next four years, India would be the third biggest manufacturer, just lagging after China and the US. With so much manufacturing happening and so much cut-throat competition, the money to be made in the automotive world is not just in producing the cars by the thousands. You’ve got to have more telematics. There must be more things in the car which provide the “wow effect” and things which people say, “This is something which I’m going to benefit from, or it’s going to be a value-add for me.”