Strategic Suppliers and the scope and types of collaborative activities that organizations do with them are substantially different from those of activities with non-strategic and routine suppliers. In manufacturing organizations, many of the direct material and production supply chain partners (contract manufacturers, ODMs) fall in the Strategic Category.
Working with strategic suppliers requires significant coordination and collaboration throughout the lifecycle of the supplier relationship.
We also observed that a close and cross-functional collaboration (engineering, quality, sourcing, planning….) approach is needed to work effectively with Direct Supply Chain partners. Many different processes are used to support cross-functional collaboration with Direct Supply Chain partners. Below are a few
One of the best approaches to cross-functional engagement is to set up a supplier collaboration portal that can bring internal and strategic supplier teams onto the same page using a variety of workflows.
