er and demonstrate what's available
much better than some manufacturing <
rep coming out of Detroit or Chicago
or someplace else saying, 'If I don't sell
this Israeli product, I'll sell this prod- .:f\
uct from Sierra Leone.'
"Every place that I went to in Israel
had a great attitude towards the idea
of doing some joint research and
development to expand the cadre of
products that they produce. And every _
company that I went to was more
sophisticated and had a higher level of
technology than probably any compa-
nies that I've visited in just one place
in my whole career of purchasing,
which is over 30 years."
In his search for advanced technol-
ogy for GM, Kutner visits dozens of
countries, logging about 250,000
miles a year.
"New products, new ideas, new sys-
tems for all sorts of industries will be
coming out of the country of Israel,"
said Kutner.
Harold Kutner met with Binyamin Netanyahu for 45 minutes.
A radar sensing system, he said,
could detect when a driver was getting
too close to another car and actively
slow the vehicle.
"I am sending one of my engineers
to visit them," said Kutner. "It would
give Elbit a new product outlook, and
would give us some technology we
haven't seen yet in the Free World in
the supply base we have." That's
impressive, considering GM buys
from 10,000 suppliers around the
world.
GM is already buying electronic
components from Tadiran, but Kutner
wants to take the relationship one step
further.
GM vehicles have literally miles of
wiring that control the electronics
within the vehicle system. Kutner
would like to use multiplexing, which
is currently used in telecommunica-
tions, to eliminate wiring in vehicles,
and challenged Tadiran to develop a
research program with that goal.
According to his report to the GM
chieftains, Kutner is also investigating
the impact on the future copper mar-
ket when phone lines are eliminated
using multiplexing. Many wires GM
uses in vehicles are also made of cop-
per.
In his meeting with Sharans
Kutner questioned the widespread use
by Israeli suppliers of manufacturer's
reps to market their goods outside
Israel.
9/19
1997
88
"The point is that a manufacturer's
representative is not a stakeholder in
one of these companies, and is not,
based on my experience purchasing
goods and services over the years,
going to drive purchases in there simi-
lar to if the suppliers had their own
organization — either an Israeli man-
ufacturing group, or his own sales
force where they were more cognizant
of what these companies have to sell,"
said Kutner.
He discussed with Sharansky hesi-
tancy in some manufacturing quarters
to buy from Israel because of concern
over the continuity of supply —
which directly correlates with Middle
East violence.
The lack of stability forces produc-
ers to hold back stock for emergencies,
and that increases the price of the
product.
Netanyahu told Kutner the Israelis
have, through immigration, highly-
educated Russian Jews that can intro-
duce new technology into companies
within Israel. Israel is putting these
people into incubator factories, where
they are doing research and develop-
ment on different technologies. They
create a menu of these technologies
for companies within Israel to bring to
production.
"The problem is that it is not very
well known, nor is it marketed very
well. Apparently part of the prime
minister's agenda is how do you
expand the shipments of goods and
services, other than fruits and vegeta-
bles, from Israel to the rest of the
world," said Kutner.
"The value added of technology
can create not only employment, but a
lot of wealth coming into the country.
So the discussion kind of focused on
the subject of how to expand the
world's knowledge of Israeli supplier
technology, as well as again on how to
market that technology into countries
outside of the Middle Eastern area and
into the Western world."
And therein lies a great irony:
Netanyahu thinks Israel is behind
because of marketing. It is an irony
not lost on Kutner, who said, "Of all
the people in the world, the great
business people, the great marketers of
the world, are totally behind the rest
of the world in how to market goods
and services."
Because many of the Israeli suppli-
ers are small start-up companies, and
can't afford the staff needed for proper
marketing, Kutner suggested an Israeli
trading company, similar to what the
Japanese did when they started to
become an industrial power.
For years, the only way to deal with
the Japanese was through a Japanese
trading company. "The difference
between your own trading company
and an outside trading company is
that there's more stakeholders in what
they're selling. They can sell and deliv-
All the
Family
n
arold and Judy Kutner
have two daughters, and
one is following in her
father's footsteps.
Andrea Kutner is a purchasing
agent for Motorola in Chicago, and
like her father she travels the globe
buying goods and services for her
employer.
Daughter Lauren, also in Chicago,
is a school teacher.
Judy Kutner was active in the
United Jewish Appeal when the family (=;
lived in Lansing. She headed the
Women's Division for three years.
The Kutners have lived in Buffalo,
N.Y., Saginaw, Lansing and now the
Detroit area during Harold Kutner's
GM career.
Kutner, who is 57, graduated from
State University of New York in 1963
and joined GM's Harrison Radiator
,
division finance department in
\
Lockport, N.Y. By 1981, he was direc-
tor of materials management for the
division.
He held the same position at the
, \
Chevrolet foundry division in Saginaw
and in Lansing at the product team
for Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac Group.
He was named a GM vice president
in 1994 after serving as executive
director in charge of worldwide pur-
chasing for GM's Delphi Automotive
(formerly AC/Delco).
(
K