Suppliers that don\u2019t deliver on time are part of the everyday business landscape \u2013 while we all strive for 100% OTIF (\u201cOn time in Full\u201d) \u2013 it doesn\u2019t always happen which means we are often left with some suppliers that don\u2019t make the grade. Faced with this situation how should we deal with such suppliers? It\u2019s easy to say we wont deal with them again but that\u2019s not always possible so you need an action plan.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s 6 techniques to help you deal with poorly performing suppliers<\/p>\n
1\/ Set clear expectations and consequence<\/strong>s<\/p>\n Firstly ensure that you have established your expectation e.g.<\/p>\n \u2022\tDid your supplier know when you expected delivery and had they agreed to that date? 2\/ Be prepared to interrogate<\/strong><\/p>\n Talk to your supplier \u2013 find out what went wrong \u2013 communication is key to understand the issues and to ensure you don\u2019t suffer from them again \u2013 simply leaving it and hoping for the best next time could spell disaster<\/p>\n 3\/ Understand the route cause<\/strong><\/p>\n Why did the supplier fail to deliver on time \u2013 was it manufacturing processes, failure to procure parts on time? Find out the key contributory factor. If your going to be using the supplier on a regular basis \u2013 understanding what went wrong and ensuring a fix is put in place is imperative.<\/p>\n 4 \/ Provide feedback on performance<\/strong><\/p>\n Regularly communicate out to your suppliers and tell them what you believe their delivery performance is (be prepared for some difference of opinion!) \u2013 ensure that as part of this communication you state what your expectation is.<\/p>\n 5\/ Be prepared to take criticism if your part of the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have process issues be prepared for your supplier to place some of the blame on you \u2013 try to put things into perspective \u2013 understanding the issues on ALL sides is crucial if your going to improve things \u2013 don\u2019t expect the supplier take all the criticism if they are not entirely to blame \u2013 ensure that if you do have issues you have appropriate plans to fix them.<\/p>\n 6\/ Follow up<\/strong><\/p>\n Have regular reviews \u2013 if you have a poorly performing supplier \u2013 and you have identified the issues \u2013 follow up regularly to ascertain what improvements are being made and how they are impacting results. Consider having periodic business reviews where you can assess the trends and tailor improvement activity accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Suppliers that don\u2019t deliver on time are part of the everyday business landscape \u2013 while we all strive for 100% OTIF (\u201cOn time in Full\u201d) \u2013 it doesn\u2019t always happen which means we are often left with some suppliers that don\u2019t make the grade. Faced with this situation how should we deal with such suppliers? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-performance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Ittq-3B","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/supplychain-mechanic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022\tDid all parties understand the shipping terms\/delivery requirements\/ship to location?
\n\u2022\tDid the supplier understand what (if anything) would happen if deliveries were late? (e.g. financial penalties etc)<\/p>\n