gazhekwe,

Note that I am trying to describe the line between purchasing and the release engineer which exists for purchased parts that that go into the vehicle and which are designed and released by GM product engineers.

Lopez and his minions tried to "teach" the suppliers how to find and take cost out of the product in other ways that were internal to their operations. If along the way a supplier came up with a cost-saving idea that required a product change, the release engineer was obliged to investigate it and then decide whether or not it could be incorporated without affecting the performance of the part.

There was not quite the same fine line between the buyers in purchasing and the GM employees who initiated orders for other types of purchases, such a indirect materials [[used internally to manufacture) or tooling systems. They often found their specs getting overruled by Lopez's buyers who were focused only on saving dollars on that individual contract, since that was how they were measured. Any argument that said that the buyer was ignoring the opportunity for a longer term savings on subsequent purchased was usually ignored. Keep in mind that these suboptimal purchasing decisions did not affect the parts that went on the car.