How auto suppliers can leverage AI in commercial processes

Automotive News, September 14, 2026 09:00 AM EDT

Real-time data that can be accessed quickly and accurately can mean the difference between an automotive supplier winning or losing an OEM’s request for a quote (RFQ). It also can mean the difference between earning a regular stream of profits and being burdened by years of unprofitable business. Jason Versical, Vice President of Strategy and Transformation at Campfire Interactive, discusses the limitations of legacy commercial management processes — including the ubiquitous spreadsheet — and how artificial intelligence and more sophisticated approaches to managing data can help auto suppliers submit winning RFQs.

Q: What is a pain point for automotive suppliers using legacy commercial management processes, such as submitting responses to automakers’ requests for quotes (RFQs)?

Jason Versical: A quote submitted too low under deadline pressure can lock in years of unprofitable business, and a quote submitted too high can lose work that would have been profitable. The root cause is often the same: fragmented data and speed.

RFQs force suppliers to move fast without complete information. Volume assumptions, program timing, and cost data live in different systems and unstructured datasets across the organization. Many suppliers still compile the final quote in spreadsheets, so every assumption has to be reentered and rechecked by hand each time a variable changes. That makes it hard to run pricing and volume scenarios to find the right number before the deadline, and it’s easy to lose track of change history. A single missed cost input or an outdated volume assumption does not just cost a bid; it can strand the operating efficiency of expensive capital equipment on the plant floor. Similar challenges show up wherever suppliers rely on spreadsheets or legacy systems to manage forecasting, quoting and change control, and program management.

Q: What is an example of how artificial intelligence can help suppliers with traditional commercial management processes; and conversely, what roles are best left to people

Versical: As one example, AI is well-suited to the parts of the RFQ process that are repetitive, data-heavy, and time-sensitive. It can pull together volume signals, historical win-and-loss information, and cost and price data, then flag an outlier or a risk the moment an assumption changes rather than at the next scheduled review. It can also run dozens of pricing and volume scenarios in the time a person would need to build a single spreadsheet model.

What should stay with people is the final call. AI is strong at surfacing patterns across large, messy datasets, but it can still make errors and should not be left alone to decide a quote submission. The best outcomes come from a sales and finance team freed from assembling spreadsheet numbers and equipped with AI-driven insights to win profitable programs that fit the supplier’s strategy and use capital efficiently.

"AI can run dozens of pricing and volume scenarios in the time a person would need to build a single spreadsheet model."

Q: As part of the overall digital transformation journey, how should a supplier make its technology investments to keep pace with automakers?

Versical: Many suppliers have invested heavily in software for engineering, the manufacturing floor, and supply chain optimization. Those are important; but if the right programs are not awarded, developed, and launched with a healthy financial profile, there is only so much that engineering design or plant-floor optimization can do to improve a supplier’s margins.

With program lives of five to seven years or more and the long-term nature of OEM contracts, much of a supplier’s profitability and revenue growth is decided one to two years or more before the data ever appears in ERP software. That is why investment in software for the sales, finance, and program management teams can do so much to drive corporate profitability and commercial success for leading Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, but it is often overlooked. Large OEMs tend to run more sophisticated technology in their purchasing and launch operations than suppliers do in their commercial teams, which is a real opportunity to improve margins and efficiency across the business.

Q: Spreadsheets are commonplace for auto supplier RFQ, forecasting and program management processes. How should a supplier manage its data to enable positive business outcomes and real-time reporting and insights?

Versical: Suppliers get beyond the spreadsheet by treating commercial data as a shared system rather than a collection of individual insights. The work can be approached by process area, one at a time or in combination. For one supplier, that might mean moving program management, APQP, and stage-gate reviews into a single system of record. For another, it might be cost and quote standards, RFQ responses, and cost and price changes tied to design changes. For a third, it might be opportunity tracking and one consolidated view of the program financial projections, spanning current production, programs in development and upcoming targets.

The result is a connected source for sales, program and finance data, instead of every department or individual keeping its own version and reconciling the differences after the fact. It gives the business real-time visibility, so a changed OEM volume, an SOP delay or pull-ahead, or a cost increase is seen across the organization, not just on the computer of the person who heard about it first. It enforces consistent definitions, so a unit or a dollar means the same thing across business units, plants and regions. Spreadsheets will still have a place for flexible, ad hoc analysis, and they will continue to have supporters among power users and some individuals in leadership. But a supplier serious about improving results at the corporate level needs a commercial and profitability system of record it can trust and adapt over time.

Q: What should a supplier look for when seeking a partner to help leverage AI in its commercial operations?

Versical: Look for a provider that understands automotive and manufacturing suppliers, not a generalist AI vendor applying the same model to every industry. Ask about a track record of successful deployments with other automotive suppliers across a wide range of vehicle product areas. The technology should focus on commercial processes and integrate with the systems already in place, such as ERP and PLM/PDM. Depth of functionality matters, too, because finance, sales and program management teams need to understand how a number was produced and how it changed over time. As OEM requirements and vehicle strategies evolve, so do the needs of the supplier’s business. So the right partner is an ongoing collaborator that keeps adapting and improving the technology over time.

About the panelist

Jason Versical | Vice President of Strategy and Transformation | Campfire Interactive

Jason Versical brings over 15 years of industry experience across the automotive supply base, management consulting and digital transformation. He has an MBA from the University of Michigan.

For more information, visit campfire-interactive.com/AI-for-suppliers or email sales@cfi2.com