Are You Setting Up Your Suppliers (and Yourself) for Success?

Even within mature supply chain organizations, the supplier can often be treated with an arms-length relationship, whereby information is provided on a "need to know" basis. While this may have been sufficient in the past, competitive pressures and the economy have demanded more flexibility from a company's supply chain.

To be truly effective, supplier collaboration needs to go far beyond the tactical exchange of data. Key suppliers must be brought into the decision-making process so that companies can exchange early warnings and collaboratively resolve supply chain risk issues.

RapidResponse® enables an efficient and effective process for working with your suppliers.

Using RapidResponse, enterprises can balance the desire for increased supply chain collaboration with the requirement for control and ownership. With automated B2B data exchanges and direct supplier interaction with RapidResponse, defined collaborations can occur on a number of factors,such as:

• Assessing supply forecasts and corresponding commitments
• Evaluating engineering change effectivities and the impact to inventories and schedule commitments
• Understanding supply constraints and their impact on future supply needs and business performance
• Determining supply priorities and inventory buffer requirements
• Assessing supply shortage risks
• Evaluating plans and requirements for "big deals"
• Managing data integrity related issues
• Monitoring supplier performance through scorecards

Better supplier collaboration will improve the flexibility of your supply chain and the profitability of your enterprise.

• By working collaboratively with key suppliers, you can make faster, more cost effective decisions.
• With a complete and timely view of the facts, you can resolve supply management issues in a manner that minimizes impacts to customers and the bottom line.
• And with more mature business relationships, you can achieve better long-term results.