Achieving robust, reliable and transparent supply chains

IP&E: Could you give us a brief overview of the role of the supply chain in manufacturing? 

GA: The role of supply chain and procurement in a manufacturing organisation is to help the business maximise profit. Part of the way they'll do that is by looking for cost reductions and having preferred agreements with suppliers. 

Another consideration is the supplier quality of the materials, goods and services, i.e. whether it is delivered to the required specification or industry standard. 

Businesses need to consider the assurance of supply, i.e. keeping production going by making sure that supply is delivered on time, in full, and when it's scheduled. 

They'll also be thinking about innovation, i.e. how they can work with suppliers to do things more efficiently and affordably. 

IP&E: What are some of the main challenges towards achieving supply chain compliance for manufacturers?

GA: There are a number of issues to consider from a manufacturing perspective. However, fundamentally, businesses will be worried about keeping production going to allow them to deliver superior quality goods on time to their customers. 

That is their main goal, and naturally, the supply chain plays a key role in helping them achieve it. Reflecting this, having a really robust, reliable and transparent supply chain is incredibly important. 

In terms of challenges, manufacturers potentially deal with thousands of suppliers, many of which are global, so the question is, “how do they keep track of all those organisations?” Additional important considerations for them will be looking at the transparency of suppliers and understanding how compliant they are with various legislation types. 

For many companies, their resources in procurement; health and safety; and supply chain functions are often really stretched, and this represents a further level of complication.  

IP&E: When we talk about supplier risk, what are the main things manufacturers should be aware of?

GA: Typically, risk will be thought about at the point of onboarding a supplier. They'll ask them lots of questions, but it's usually only done at one point in time. Given this, the information they obtain will usually be quite a static data set. They won't be doing that on a regular basis. And quite often they'll apply a one-size-fits-all approach.

They'll be assessing suppliers and contractors in a very similar way, simply because they don't have the resources to do it any other way. Yet, if they work with a supplier for a number of years, they really need to be carrying out assessments on a regular basis. 

There is a range of different risks businesses should consider when they are engaging with suppliers. The question is, how to do this at-scale and on a regular, consistent basis, to ensure there's less risk in their supply chain?

Gemma Archibald is divisional CEO of supply chain compliance at Alcumus

If you'd like to listen to Gemma discussing how to address supply chain risk in more detail, together with what Alcumus can do to help, why not check out the new IP&E Podcast, available here: https://tinyurl.com/5n8kn3aa

For more information: 

https://www.alcumus.com

Tel: 0330 127 1723