Teach your team to develop suppliers by analyzing the total cost of ownership, identifying and maintaining supplier performance metrics, and developing strategic partnerships through transparent communication.

When leveraged as part of a supplier development program, supply base optimization can dramatically speed up the implementation and improve the performance of lean supply chain initiatives.

Due to the immense resources required to bring complex products to market on a global scale, supply chain professionals must foster earlier and closer supply-partner relationships to stimulate the intimate collaboration needed to realize the mutual value that can be created from lean extended-enterprise concepts.

Winning a motorsports endurance race is the result of careful planning, teamwork, and execution requiring a large upfront investment in time and resources. Developing a localized supply base aboard is similar to preparing for a race in that it takes supply base building steps of planning, qualifying, and establishing that untimely create an international world class supply base that can support a new plant.

Every supplier is unique in their own way; however it’s the ones that share the following traits that make them best-in-class, and separate them from the competition.

One of the most important decisions a high-growth technology company faces in its early stages is whether to manufacture components and the final product using its own resources (make) or to outsource the manufacturing process to another company (buy).

When considering where to build your supply base, source components, and source finished products, the prevailing idea seems to be that domestic sourcing allows for better quality control and shorter time to market, while international sourcing is cheaper. Both of these facts can be true, which can make it difficult deciding when to choose one over the other and these oversimplifications may lead to poor strategic decisions.

By definition a “supplier” is a party that supplies goods or services. In supply chain management, the term “supplier” is used frequently. When a buyer and/or company is looking for the supply of goods or services, one should always choose the party that offers more than just that particular good or service. They should choose a partner, a company that is willing to go above and beyond in the short-term and long-term.