The evolution of our Supplier Performance Management
Rolf Groothuis & Erjan Kelder - Strategic Supply Chain Manager & Business Intelligence Officer
At the beginning of this year, we rolled out Aeronamic’s latest innovation in the field of production processes. By pushing Supplier Performance Management (SPM) towards its next evolution, we can manage our supply chain even better. Much of this innovation will perhaps pass by our system integrators unnoticed, but ‘behind the scenes’ we are very excited about the new possibilities and how it further strengthens our position as a trusted partner. Aeronamic’s Erjan, Guido, Jeroen and Rolf are the team who came up with our new approach to vendor rating. Erjan and Rolf tell us how it happened and the benefits which come with it.
Why Supplier Performance Management?
Rolf Groothuis: “How Aeronamic and its suppliers work together has a huge impact on the performance levels of our system integrators, which means we have a responsibility to manage that supply chain in the best way possible. That is why we push for continuous improvement using the Lean Six Sigma approach, including in this area. It is also why we keep a close eye on how our suppliers perform through time and during different projects. New and upcoming requirements have encouraged us to grasp the opportunity not only to enhance our Supplier Performance Management (SPM), but to stimulate a next step in its evolution.”
Another plus of being vertically integrated
Erjan Kelder: “Vertical integration helps us produce a complete component on time and in compliance with all necessary requirements, but it also has the benefit of allowing us to fully develop new processes and test them in real-time. As you can see, developing software to create process innovations is one of our many skills and that is exactly what we did with our SPM! From the first concepts to the development and rolling out of the completed innovation, no external resources were necessary, resulting in a very short lead time and an SPM which precisely met our own requirements. We wanted our improved SPM to adapt to any new situation and to be extremely simple to use – to be clear and practical enough for everyone in our company to work with it.”
What makes our new vendor rating special?
“We’ve redesigned it from the bottom up,” Erjan Kelder continues. “This made it possible for us to incorporate a special feature: a Kraljic matrix within a fully automated system which is available at all times. Everyone in the supply chain industry knows about the Kraljic matrix and how it “just” takes snapshots of moments in time. However, instead of snapshots, we have designed the system so that we can continuously monitor what is happening. In addition, because we now work with live data across all processes, we can immediately take action when issues arise or when the desired performance criteria aren’t met.” Rolf Groothuis adds: “For example, take our colleagues Chris and Brian in the USA who are directly involved with some of our suppliers there. They can instantly use the data generated by our new SPM. It’s like going from 20/20 vision to having a bird’s eye view – and that perspective can be accessed from anywhere and by anyone who needs it. It is this integration of the Kraljic matrix with performance parameters on quality, cost and on-time delivery which makes the new vendor rating special.”
A win for everyone
Erjan Kelder: “What is great is that with superior business intelligence, you can create a complete, in-depth perspective. Our new SPM adds to other indicators such as the MRO app and machining KPIs. And all of this works together to improve our total organization and monitor our company’s performance, as well as stimulating our Plan-Do-Check-Act approach. It could even reach the point where, for example, castings are redesigned because – for the supply chain – it would work better within the flow of the process.” Rolf Groothuis: “In the end, our job is to make sure system integrators can focus on their core business. That’s why we do our part in making sure that we manage your supply chain in the best way possible. Both now and in the future.”
For those who are also in the field of supply chains … what do you think will be the next step in its evolution?