Moving Past the Crisis Mode

With supply chains moving toward more normalcy, it’s time to refocus on supplier risk management. 

TAKEAWAYS:
● Supplier risk management programs were often neglected or circumvented in the face of recent supply chain challenges.
● As normalcy returns, shoring up these processes requires a holistic internal and external approach.
● Advanced technologies like AI are essential to developing a robust SRM program.  

In the NAM Manufacturers’ Second Quarter Outlook Survey (June 2023), workforce challenges continued to dominate and concerns about a weaker domestic economy grew. But responses also hinted at better news on the supply chain front — 45% of executives surveyed cited the supply chain as a primary challenge. That’s a significant percentage but also down from 56% the previous quarter. More than 25% of manufacturers believe supply chain disruptions have already abated or will in the current quarter, and 53% of manufacturers expect improvement by the end of 2023.

While there’s still plenty of uncertainty, this sentiment suggests movement in the direction of “normalcy.” As that happens, we believe that it’s critical to revisit and reinvigorate supplier risk management (SRM) programs.

Given the extraordinary events of the past several years, it’s understandable that many manufacturers eased up on supplier risk management to ensure they could get what they needed to meet demand. Discipline waned on the buy side of the supply chain, with buyers often relaxing their practices for holding suppliers accountable to contract terms and enforcing penalties for non-compliance.

The pendulum is swinging the other way as supply conditions stabilize. Many manufacturers are beginning to again tighten and strengthen their SRM processes. Listed below are some considerations to accomplish that.

Six Considerations for Strengthening Your SRM Program

While technology is a key enabler of supplier risk management today, effectiveness depends on having a more well-rounded approach. Without that, you will struggle to realize value from the effort.

1.  Start within your own house: There are multiple functions and parties involved in getting materials from suppliers into your plant. To be effective and ensure consistent application across functions, an SRM program must have multidisciplinary input and consensus. Having your own internal operations in order is essential before you can begin engaging suppliers in initiatives to improve visibility or collaboration.

2. Segment the supplier base: One of the most important principles of SRM is the application of segmentation to suppliers and supply markets; not all provide the same value to the organization or pose the same level of risk. Effective segmentation enables manufacturers to focus their efforts on strategic suppliers at the top of the pyramid that may provide enormous potential for partnership and collaboration. Expanding interfaces with certain strategic suppliers enables collaborative planning and forecasting, and it also improves both organizations’ efficiency.

But the potential is even greater. Collaborative R&D and innovation and joint market development initiatives can be a “force multiplier” for both parties. What’s more, the benefits of expanding strategic perspective further up and down the value chain can provide strategic risk management advantages, including earlier identification of both downside risks and upside opportunities.

3. Assess risk regularly, using a proven framework: Many organizations significantly expanded their supplier base during the pandemic to manage disruptions. This resulted in many short-term partnerships and non-optimal agreements. With a return to normal, a good SRM practice is evaluating the strategy behind each relationship, including updating service level agreements, pricing/service benchmarks, and volume commitments — not as a one-time initiative but on a regular ongoing basis.

Capitalizing on this requires sound management of the data that may be highly sensitive or proprietary:

• Operational/Master data: products, parts, specifications, bills of materials, capacities, etc.
• Transactional data: orders, forecasts, lead times, payments, invoices, shipments, sales/point-of-sale, inventory, etc.
• Performance data: service levels, quality, Net Promoter® scores, etc.

Elevating master data management is next to impossible without moving away from Microsoft Excel and paper-based processes. This is where many manufacturing operations struggle. In our research with Supply Chain Dive, nearly 75% of manufacturing and distribution executives said they primarily use Excel in their sales and operations planning processes. This is not just slower and more laborious, it’s also more prone to errors and risks.

5. Mature data acumen and governance, wherever it resides in the company: In a digitally enhanced organization, people must be agile and capable of operating at two speeds: running the business while continuously exploring ways to use data to find, evaluate, and pursue new opportunities. This requires the ability to understand new risks from data sharing and systems integration, and to apply risk-based approaches to evaluating what is shared, protocols for sharing, and lines of defense to protect and remediate when needed.

Employees can no longer operate solely within their own functional siloes. They must have a baseline understanding of the data governance frameworks, protocols, and underlying data risks as they increasingly engage with digital interfaces within supplier ecosystems. This will require new skills, as well as education and change management across the functions that play roles in managing supplier risk.

6. Take advantage of evolving technology: Good visibility is key to managing supply risk. Visibility is the product of being digital. Leading manufacturers are trending toward more technology-enabled planning processes. This allows them to forecast more accurately and look further into the future. In addition to having better insight, digital organizations can do more with the same number of people.

Software companies are utilizing advanced technologies to transform supply chain risk management. They offer platforms that provide in-depth supplier risk assessments — which are customizable and dynamic — covering a wide range of risk categories. These assessments focus on various aspects, including location, company, and material risks, and are designed to build long-term resiliency by reducing the frequency and impact of events that can affect supply chains.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing supplier risk management by leveraging predictive analytics to foresee potential supply chain disruptions, considering myriad data points including geopolitical events, weather patterns, and suppliers’ financial health. It facilitates real-time monitoring of supply chain processes, tracking goods in transit, and monitoring supplier performance to detect and alert about anomalies before they escalate into significant issues.