View fromthe Top
TrusT in The supply chain
Chris Balteff, supply streamvoyager, at Fluid Components, shares his personal viewonwhy building close supplier relationships are just as important asmeasuringmetrics, andwhy these relationships need to be built on a foundation ofmutual success, not an expectation of failure By Chris Balteff, Fluid Components International LLC
Chris Balteff, Fluid Components International
Where has the love gone? In today's ever technological changing world the one thing that remains constant, it's us. Our goals and
expectations in the supply chain are centered on three common results: on-time delivery, competitive pricing and quality.What if we equated "on-time delivery" to faith, "competitive pricing" to confidence, and "quality" to reliance where the quest for success is mutual, the outcome exceeds expectations, and the journey is a collaboration with trust at the center of this relationship.
In the last several years trust has been replaced bymath.
Relationships have been replaced bymetrics. Conversation replaced by email. Asking the supplier replaced by telling the supplier. And good coaching replaced by expectation setting.
If buyers, purchasing agents, and supply chainmanagers are
immersed in the supply stream, issues such as delivery slips associatedwith PCBAs at a contractmanufacturer due to engineering change orders (ECOs), or the historical response time to quotes that demonstrate confidence in the relationship, reveal themselves, and we as professionalsmake the necessary adjustments. The conceptual adjustments to these issues demonstrate leadership and ownership, compared to the datamined analysiswhere time is surrendered to statistics rather than results.
Finally, over time the strengths of your supply chain - who best
can solve your lead-time issues, who has the better quality and who offers pricing that is consistently beating the competition - are revealed through close supplier relationships.
The current state of affairs imposes the statistical analysis of continuouslymeasuring and applyingmath with data that
4 | September 2011
accumulatesmore revealing trends that are evident to the same professionals who are doing their job or just paying attention. The profession's core values are relationships centered on trust not diminished by the sterile transactions of data exchanges.
In the 1980s (JimBragg, Hughes Aircraft Co.) and 1990s (Dyanna
Madro, Industrial Computer Source), Iwitnessed firsthand the excellence of great purchasingmanagers or in themodern day vernacular supply chainmanagers/directors. The singlemost important attribute each of themhadwas that they liked people. And above all else, they communicated exceptionallywell. Equal to setting expectationswas their command and confidence they had in selecting a buyerwith the necessary resources to contribute at the highest level.
As supply-chainmanagement tools have improved, the experience
is uninspired. The data acts as a curtain between supply-chain management and their suppliers. Themath insulates the relationship, negating themost valued reason for doing business -- trust. A handshakemakes the relationship personal. A recent example is the Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith negotiation of the National Football League's Collective Bargaining Agreement. The beginning, middle and conclusion of all agreements reside in respectful relationships and the belief that the destination is the same.
Supply-chainmanagement is not engineering. Supply-chain
management is creativity, improvisation, an adventure, a sense of humor, and yes, statistical analysis, butmore importantlymanaging relationships based on trust.
So purchasingmanagers, supply-chain directors, believe your
people will do their jobs; have conviction their goals are the same as yours for the embedded co-dependence between the customer and the supplier ismutual.Mistakes will happen, but to base all accountability in anticipation of failure will not support the best work. Encourage collaboration and trust in relationships.
www.electronics-sourcing.com
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