Supplier Development
Supplier Development
Supplier Development
Supplier development
• Supplier development is broadly defined as
any activity that a buying firm undertakes
to improve a supplier’s performance and
capabilities to meet the buying firm’s
supply needs
• Buying firms use a variety of activities to
improve supplier performance including:
– Assessing suppliers’ operations
– Providing incentives to improve performance
– Instigating competition among suppliers
– Working directly with suppliers
Strategic Importance of
Supplier Development
When a supplier is incapable of
meeting the buying firm’s
needs, the buying firm has
three alternatives:
1.Bring the outsourced item in-
house and produce it internally
2.Re-source with a more capable
supplier
3.Help improve the existing
supplier’s capabilities
Results of Supplier
Development
When suppliers become
proficient at new technologies,
improve their quality or
delivery performance, or
improve their own supply
management systems, they
create cost savings that benefit
both themselves and the end
customer
The improvements also create an
example for other members in
the supply chain that can
Best Practices in Supplier
Development
Create dedicated supply
development teams
Teach a supplier how to develop
itself after initial guidance from
the supplier development team
Focus on underlying causes of long
cycle times
Focus on wasteful activities in all
supplier efforts
Involve suppliers in new product
and process development at the
Provide training programs and training
time to suppliers
Provide education programs offline
that go beyond training
Provide improvement focused seminars
for suppliers
Provide tooling and technical
assistance to suppliers
Provide supplier support centers
Loan executives, such as process
engineers and quality managers
• Drive fear out that a supplier’s
workforce may have towards
supplier development programs
• Set “stretch goals” to encourage
radical change as well as
continuous improvement
• Improve accounting systems to
enable measurement of
improvements
•
• Share the savings from the
development improvements
• Encourage suppliers to
contribute to improving
processes at the buyer’s
facilities
• Provide a feedback loop for
suppliers to help encourage
supplier development efforts
• Improve the supplier’s supply
Supplier Development
Process
• Initiating the Project
• Mapping and Measuring
• Developing the Process
• Achieving Results
• Controlling the Process
• Recognizing the Team
•
Initiating the Project
suppliers
Three traits of world-class
suppliers
World wide sourcing
process
• International sourcing
approach differs from
company to company.
The step-by-step
procedure to be followed
in global sourcing is
discussed below:
Identify items that qualify
for worldwide sourcing:
Companies should select items for
foreign purchase considering
the cost benefit, quality
excellence, superior technology,
customer responsiveness and
product features.
Items available from multiple
sources are good candidates for
selection. The volume should
justify to go for global sourcing.
Items with high product life
cycle are also considered for
Gather information about
global sourcing:
After identifying items to source
world wide, a company must gather
and evaluate information about
potential suppliers.
Internet plays a very important role
for gathering information about the
potential suppliers. Trade centres
conduct exhibitions. These become
important source for identifying
potential source. Trading
companies can be approached for
assistance. Most of these
companies have a long history of
trade and have the expertise to
Ø International trade experts also
can be utilized for getting
information about the potential
suppliers. Other potential
sources include
Ø trade journals and
Ø sale catalogs
Ø yellow pages for a country,
Supplier source
Evaluation:
Evaluation is key in locating
correct supplier globally. Enough
care should be taken in
evaluating the identified
potential suppliers for awarding
contract.
The foreign suppliers should be
subjected to the same standard
of evaluation as applicable to
domestic suppliers. The aspects
like
vstability of price,
vinventory holdings,
vability to assist in new designs,
vquality system established in the
company,
vlead time requirements,
vextend of relationship that could
be established with the company,
vtrust worthiness of the supplier
and
vimpact of foreign relation with the
domestic suppliers
have to be examined and evaluated