Detroit can build it, but can Detroit source it?

"We are on borrowed time." - Army Major General John Ferrari

On July 20th, President Trump signed an executive order making it dramatically harder for defense contractors to buy critical materials from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Seven days later, the U.S. Army handed Ford and GM prototype contracts to build a new heavy infantry squad vehicle on the theory that Detroit can build trucks faster and cheaper than the traditional defense industrial base.

Nobody has explained how the new restrictions and speed expectations are supposed to work at the same time.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

- What the U.S. Army asked Ford and GM for and what the new sourcing rules now forbid them from buying to build it

- Why a bomber plant outside Ypsilanti is the most useful data point in this story, and why the lesson everyone takes from it is backwards

- The second rulebook already two years into the same experiment that might give us an early look at what to expect here

Links:

Kelly Barner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/

Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-of-supply-6895142546301960193

Art of Supply on AOP: http://www.artofsupply.com

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