The good news at Ford just keeps on coming, while less-than-positive news at Honda and Toyota also continues, as reflected in the results of the 10th annual North American OEM – Supplier Working Relations Study. Planning Perspectives, of Birmingham, Mich., conducted the study.

For the first time in the study's history, a U.S. automaker – Ford – was ranked in the top three OEMs, along with Honda and Toyota, who are in first and second place, respectively.

Nissan continues to slip in the rankings, dropping to fourth place this year, while GM – in fifth place – continues showing strong, steady improvement. Chrysler is also showing some improvement but is still in last place, the position it has held since 2008.

"If there was a silver lining to the recession for U.S. suppliers, it has to be that it caused the domestic automakers to wake up and realize how important their suppliers are to their future fortunes," said John W. Henke, Jr., Ph.D., president and CEO, of Planning Perspectives. "This in turn has caused the automakers to redouble their efforts to improve their working relations with suppliers. As this year's results show, it's paying off."

The results of the study are used to calculate the Working Relations Index (WRI), which ranks each OEM across 17 variables comprising five key categories: (1) how the OEM is perceived in terms of its overall Supplier Relations; (2) OEM Communications with the supplier; (3) OEM Help given to suppliers to reduce cost and improve quality; (4) OEM Hindrance to suppliers doing their best job; and (5) the supplier's Profit Opportunity at the OEM.

Over the years, the study has shown that automakers with a higher WRI realize significantly greater benefits from their suppliers than those automakers with a lower WRI. Similar results have been found in numerous industries.

Ford and GM were the biggest winners in this year's study, improving across the board in all five key categories of the WRI.

"Ford is doing everything right when it comes to supplier relations," Henke said. "Ford has shown steady improvement in all five key categories every year for the past four years, so it is not surprising that the company moved to third place overall. If Ford continues to improve at the same pace, and Toyota continues falling, Ford could surpass Toyota in the near future."

At the same time, GM has also shown strong gains in all key categories over the same period, while Honda, Toyota and Nissan have all declined.

"At its current pace, GM could bypass Nissan in the next year or two," Henke suggested.

The study tracks supplier perceptions of their working relations with the top three U.S. and top three Japanese automakers across 14 commodity purchasing areas. This year, 646 sales personnel from 510 suppliers participated, providing data for nearly 2,500 buying situations.