Full Service Provider

Bulten is one of the few players in Europe that offers complete responsibility throughout the value chain for fasteners, from product development to final delivery to the customer, and has extensive experience in managing complex full service contracts for the automotive industry.

Fasteners are high-volume components in terms of the amount of variants and units, resulting in very complex handling in both purchasing and logistics, so the customer has much to gain by entrusting Bulten with full responsibility. As an FSP supplier to the international auto industry, Bulten provides services in all areas of development, verification, quality assurance, documentation, production and logistics. Thanks to its FSP concept, Bulten can take responsibility for all fasteners for an entire platform, model or factory throughout the value chain.

Projects are based on a close collaboration between engineers from Bulten and the customer. The technical specifications and blueprints are optimized based on the unique conditions in each situation. The process is controlled from the start in accordance with the APQP model (Advanced Product Quality Planning), which means that the quality of all the components is considered to ensure that the prototypes are consistent with products that enter series production.

Being an FSP provider requires exceptional organization and coordination ability. The handling of a large supplier base to meet the total demand for fasteners is often very complex because there are many variables to consider that affect administration and cost.

Bulten’s work as a global FSP supplier creates opportunities for vehicle manufacturers to free up their own resources and capital. When a vehicle producer integrates activities with a Full Service Provider that has extensive industry knowledge it makes internal management of projects related to fasteners much simpler.

Bulten produces a large part of the components in-house and it is very important to understand and control the manufacturing process. Having its own production skills combined with good knowledge of the global supply base allows Bulten to select the right suppliers for the products Bulten does not produce itself. In many FSP projects it’s not just a matter of stocking and delivering a range of fasteners, but also coordinating components among different suppliers, delivery locations, processing phases, storage hubs and customer receivers. The challenge in this type of large global project is to ensure that deliveries meet customers’ high demands on cost, quality, delivery performance, volume and product range.