Supplier Management
Thurman Co. focuses on two (2) key areas of Supplier Management to reduce the overall Risk to the Organization. In turn, this improves Supply Chain performance and productivity.
Reporting
The first area of emphasis is Supplier Performance Reporting, either in Monthly or Quarterly Performance Reports. These are not a typical Quarterly Business Review with the Suppliers but are detailed drill-downs into the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that the Organization has set out, typically in the Contract, for the Supplier to achieve. Some typical KPIs that are tracked over time might include:
- On Time Delivery Performance
- Quality – Defective Parts Per Million (DPPM)
- Quality – First Pass Yield (FPY)
- Purchase Order Response Time
- Number of Partial Ships per Month
More mature production suppliers may be evaluated on KPIs such as:
- Percent of products with complete Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
- Percent of products with complete Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
- Process Capability Index (Cpk)
Capacity
Secondly, Thurman Co. is uniquely positioned to assist Organizations to conduct Supplier Capability and Capacity Assessments, either of their Suppliers or within their own Organization, to identify areas of Risk to the business. This is particularly important for businesses that may be considering a move into the highly regulated automotive or aerospace industries.
The Supplier Capability and Capacity Assessment is carried out with the collaboration of the Organization’s Subject Matter Experts in multiple areas to ensure that the very best information is used to evaluate their performance. It involves a factory walk-through to understand how processes are carried out on the floor today, but also a review of the Organization’s documented processes. Any certifications are also considered as a part of the evaluation.
All of these factors are reviewed as a part of the overall scores assigned to the various areas reviewed, from Safety and Engineering to Material Handling.
Finally, a written report is provided to the Organization. If appropriate, an Improvement Plan can be generated and cadenced with the team until the Organization is determined to be a “Best in Class” supplier.
