FAQ
Q: What is Supplier Development?
A: Supplier Development is about generating a new capability or competency in suppliers that can manifest itself in a new product for sale, a new streamlined process or the implementation of a new standard.
Q: What is Supply Chain Excellence?
A. Supply Chain Excellence consists of the methodical integration of Core Development Factors and Operational Variables into an organized system of strategic actions that define how Suppliers engage in Supply Chains:
Core Development Factors:
- Defining the appropriate Strategy and goals
- Utilizing effective Design techniques to organize businesses, geographical, functions, processes, etc.
- Managing performance measures
- Analyzing performance gaps for field improvement
- Implementing Improvement
- Monitoring performance
Operating Variables include:
- Trading Partners – Customers and Suppliers in the Supply Chain
- Organization – as defined in the organizational chart and job functions
- Processes – leading practices and inbound and outbound physical network
- Technology – most often fixed assets and supply chain information systems
- Performers – individual contributors to supply chain strategy execution
(Source: Supply Chain Excellence – Adapted from “A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model”, Peter Bolstorff and Robert Rosenbaum, and “Improving Performance- How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart”, Geary A. Rummler and Alan P. Brache)
Q: How Does Supplier Development Lead to Business Development?
A. DMSCA is a proponent of the Prosci ADKAR change management model in combination with a pull system marketing approach.
The ADKAR change management model emphasizes:
- Making suppliers aware of the need for sustainable performance improvement despite current levels of maturity
- Interacting with supplier leaders to assess their desire to change
- Providing the knowledge needed to improve performance
- Assessing the ability of a supplier to apply learned practices for performance differentiation
- Reinforcing need for supplier engagement by corporate recognition, valuing, and leveraging performance metrics generated by suppliers for procurement consideration.
The result is a pull system marketing approach where customers seek suppliers like those in the CMP.
Q: How long is Supplier engagement in the CMP?
A. The CMP fosters suppliers’ continuous improvement. The need for continuous improvement does not end.
Q. What is the financial value of Supplier engagement in the CMP?
A. The enterprise level CMP training funded by suppliers is $5,500 in year 1 and $3,750 in year 2 and is provided to each participating supplier team member through an APICS SCOR-P and P.E. certified instructor. Were the same training provided directly by APICS Supply Chain Council to a company, its cost would be $4,000 to $5,000 per person versus the CMP costs per enterprise.
Due to DMSCA’s grandfathered relationship with the APICS Supply Chain Council, DMSCA is the only organization in the U.S. that can provide Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) training to small and mid-sized manufacturing suppliers at the enterprise level.
Q. Why does the CMP system lead with leveraging the SCOR model for Suppliers?
A. A simple answer is that while the CMP also embraces cross-enterprise operational maturity, familiarizing suppliers with SCOR helps to provide them with understanding of how supply chains are managed and focuses them on how to be performance-driven and performance managed in a “one-size does not fit all” competitive environment.