COMMENT
of £585 every year. If they are required to be audited, they pay for the audit visit and report as well but this information is made available to all buyers.”
Given the current economic situation, organisations have to be extremely careful in their spending. Andy Harrison says: “To ensure Link-up is delivering value for money, we are held to account by the Link-up Governance Group. This has representatives from organisations such as train operators, infrastructure contractors, and Network Rail. There is also a Supplier Consultation Group to ensure that we also have a supplier’s perspective. We publish monthly reports and have quarterly meetings where we are judged on our delivery of the system and these are made available to scheme members via the Link- up portal.
“The Governance Group looks into issues such as the quality of information being provided, the time it takes us to get companies onto the system and also whether we are offering coverage of a full range of products because we cover everything from buying trains to buying spades. We are held to account by that group and this ensures that we are delivering the right product and that Link-up is being delivered in the right way.
“Because we are a commercial operation, the market gives us a pretty good steer on whether we are providing value for money and we’re currently seeing
around 50-60 new suppliers join the scheme each month.”
So how will Link-up be developed in the future?
“We have been going through a period of constant development ever since we launched Link- up v.2 in 2007 and we have just launched our fourth major periodic update.
“We are also working with organisations such as the Rail Alliance to facilitate the entry of small suppliers onto the Link- up system to make them visible to buyers. We have worked hard to make improvements in both audit process and auditor competence and are in the middle of a major review of audit questions which is being done in partnership with Network Rail. We have also launched a new online buyer guide – with our new online supplier guide also imminent. We really urge Link-up members, both buyers and suppliers, to make use of these downloadable guides and so make the best out of their membership.
“It is surprising how many organisations don’t make the most out of their investment in supply chain management solutions. With access to substantial and detailed validated and normalised information to thousands of suppliers, many buyer organisations still conduct individual supplier checks or send out auditors to gather basic information.
“ It is surprising how many organisations don’t make the most out of their investment in supply chain management solutions. With access to substantial and detailed validated and normalised information to thousands of suppliers, many buyer organisations still conduct individual supplier checks or send out auditors to gather basic information.”
“What is even more surprising is that when I meet representatives from these organisations they seem unaware of the potential savings they can make. Given that Link-up gathers all of the basic information about a company and its capabilities and is available at the buyer’s desktop, it is no wonder that the most common complaint from suppliers is having to deliver the same information to buyers time after time after time.
“If the buyer teams put their trust in the information provided through the supplier management system, the buyers could save thousands of pounds and avoid slowing down their supplier selection process. For example, if a buyer is auditing even 20% of their supply chain, the costs are in the tens of thousands of pounds to them and the cost to the suppliers dealing with this interrogation from all of their customers is huge.
“By moving from their own questionnaire and interrogation of their supply chain to using professional tools as their core
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rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 11 | 17
route to information gathering, buyers at all levels can save time, resource and money. This can allow them to redeploy their effort into particular and specific risk areas where these relate directly to letting a particular contract or where additional key information is required. This can also enable them to dramatically increase their effectiveness in covering their supply chain in terms of review and scrutiny.
“This is an area of potentially massive savings for any company as well as a key opportunity to better manage risk by having a level playing field for suppliers at a basic level and focusing scarce experienced staff onto the key areas of high risk and performance.
“Whilst we are constantly working with key stakeholders to develop the scheme, I think that the main issue is about how the scheme is used by the industry – there is a potential for both buyers and suppliers to save a significant amount of money by making the best use of the information which is made available by Achilles.”
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