Managing suppliers effectively

Optimal supplier management with digital shop floor management and digital collaboration control

Digital Shop Floor Management provides support through digitalization and the use of proven Shop Floor Management methods and bottleneck-oriented collaboration management.
This makes it possible to achieve higher throughput with the same team while adhering to deadlines.

Shop floor Management:
the optimal TOOL FOR SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT

In this blog post, we want to focus on the topic of supplier development. The management work or "development work" in the context of supplier development takes place specifically in the dialogue between the supplier developers of the customer organization and representatives of the suppliers to a large extent in the context of timed Shop Floor Management Meetings (recurring communication); the timing is usually determined depending on the issues and measures at hand. In most cases, when using a digital SFM, the meetings are held virtually in combination with physical meetings at the supplier's premises. 

The frequency and type of meetings (physical or virtual) varies depending on whether they take place in the: 

• Taskforce mode,
• Ramp-up mode (new product launch/restart) or
• Standard mode.

At the same time, difficult problems, e.g. in a process (e.g. production, testing, development, etc.) can trigger the respective support cascade in the area of supplier development, whereby these issues are then escalated - as is typical for SFM.
As is usual in SFM, the topics and problems are dealt with through error correction or problem-solving processes integrated in a tool in the form of a coaching dialog between the supplier developer and the suppliers.
This permanently leads to the further development of the supplier work system in the direction of OPEX and, of course, to a significant improvement in supplier performance. 

EVEN MORE EFFICIENT SUPPLIERS
WITH DIGITAL SHOP FLOOR MANAGEMENT 

The transformation to digital Shop Floor Management (dSFM) enables companies to have better control over their processes as well as their suppliers' supply processes, react more quickly to changes and continuously improve the efficiency and quality of work systems. It also enables faster and data-based decisions. 

The global nature of work systems is clearly pushing conventional or analog Shop Floor Management to its limits. Collaboration is increasingly taking place across locations and more and more in networks. It is simply not possible to transfer a collection of analog data (e.g. on a paper board) to another location. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DIGITAL SHOP FLOOR MANAGEMENT IN SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT?

If we start with the classic, analog-based work in supplier development, we find the following characteristics: 

• Recurring on-site visits to suppliers as part of new product launches, problems in series production support in combination with:
  

  • Audits,

  • deviation protocols, 

  • agreements on measures (usually in Excel or similar).

• High utilization of supplier developers with simultaneously low support density and quality.

• High idle times (waste, inefficiencies) and high costs as well as unfavorable contributions to the CO2 footprint due to sometimes intensive travel activities, especially with globally distributed suppliers. 
  
  

Digitizing SFM in supplier development brings the following improvements and benefits: 

• Connection to third-party systems with automatic data integration; this allows relevant supplier data on its work system (KPIs, deviations, deviation management, decisions and resolutions, etc.) from various software systems to be displayed centrally in a dSFM system and used for performance improvement. 

• Higher data quality and up-to-dateness (real-time).

• Flexible data analyses are possible without a great deal of manual effort.

• Faster and improved decisions with lower risk potential.

• Simple and fast definition and establishment of collaboration standards between suppliers and their supplier developers for tracking and reporting:

  • Board structures,

  • KPIs,

  • lists,

  • deviation management.

• Digital deviation management for transparent and centralized tracking of all measures from improvement actions, error corrections (PCDA) and problem solutions (A3).

• Faster, cheaper and easier roll-out of tools than with analog processes.

• Improved remote management of (globally) distributed supplier locations through mobile accessibility and an efficient communication platform worldwide.
  This means, for example, that a supplier developer does most of his global development work virtually with the help of a digital SFM tool in combination with a telco system such as Teams, Zoom for communication or similar;
  and only part of the management takes place on site at the locations for personal and individual support of the suppliers at their locations.
  This significantly increases the efficiency of supplier support and development, in particular by reducing travel times, travel costs and contributions to sustainability. 

  
  

OPTIMIZE YOUR SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Get in touch with us and find out how ValueStreamer^® can support you in supplier development.