Category Archives: Risk Management

Supplier Management Works … Even in the Public Sector

One of the presentations at the 6th Annual International Symposium on Supply Chain Management was a Supplier Management Case Study by Canada Post. Canada Post, which is the 6th largest employer in Canada, employs a workforce of 71,000 that has to deal with 40 Million items a day that can originate from 24,000 points of access (including 7,000 retail outlets), and that may need to be delivered to any one of 14 Million locations across ten million square kilometers. As a 7 Billion dollar organization, over 4 Billion dollars flows through Procure to Pay annually, with over 2 Billion dollars of that spend managed. Major categories include transportation (350 million plus), professional services (300 million plus), information technology (250 million plus), facilities (200 million plus), and mail operations (100 million plus). Approximately 80% of invoices are electronic, and approximately 64% of payments are through electronic transfer.

Given the magnitude of dollars that are at stake, Canada Post has implemented a score-card based supplier management system in an effort to reduce costs and increase value for money. It did this because a number of recent studies, including a study by Aberdeen, found that organizations that include supplier measurement and management in their sourcing programs save an average of 8% more than those who don’t, have an on-time-delivery performance that is twice as good, and a quality of product or service that is four times better. Furthermore, without a good supplier management program in place, an organization can expect 75% of sourcing savings to erode within 18 months.

To date, Canada Post has placed 60 of its 176 large (volume/spend) active suppliers on scorecards, and it intends to add 20 more by year end, with a goal of eventually having the majority of large (volume/spend) active suppliers on scorecards in the next couple of years. It’s goal is to increase value for money by implementing a common measurement approach that will allow for a comparative measure of of supplier performance within a commodity group, improve sourcing decisions, provide a foundation for supplier relationship management, and drive improvements.

It uses a multi-part scorecard that measures different aspects of on-time delivery, defect free delivery (of a product or service), continuous improvement, and value for money that rates a supplier on a 1 to 10 scale. Anything under 8 is unsatisfactory, anything between 8 and 9 needs improvement, 9 is on-target, and anything above 9 means that the supplier has exceeded expectations. The goal is to get as many suppliers as possible exceeding expectations because this is where savings and value materialize.

As part of their supplier management initiative, they did two case studies. The first case study was on a supplier who was perceived to be a poor service provider with major problems in invoice accuracy on a regular basis and unsatisfactory service. Over two quarters, the scorecard identified poor performance that ranged between 5.5 and 7.1. This got the attention of the supplier’s senior management who, committed to fixing the problem, performed a root-cause analysis, identified corrective actions, and implemented them. After the senior management implemented their corrections, overall performance improved to 7.7 over the next two quarters and the supplier is now trending to an 8.8 within the next two quarters, which is a considerable improvement.

The second case study was on a supplier with a history of excellent service who consistently exceeded expectations. The question was whether or not supplier management could be used to edge out even better performance. After implementing the scorecard, the supplier reduced spending by 3.5% over the next 6 months and identified and implemented a number of Joint Performance Initiatives that are expected to yield even further savings in the future.

In short, Canada Post found that a good supplier performance management initiative, which in this case was built on a variation of a common scorecard where both parties agree on the metrics and the supplier is tasked with maintaining the scorecard (which has to be signed off by a buyer before it is accepted), can save considerable money even in the public sector.


Editor’s Note: I wrote this before my colleague posted his take over on Spend Matters last month, but decided to delay it as a reminder to readers of both our blogs that good SPM programs achieve results. Jason’s posts can be reviewed here:
Supplier Performance: Lessons from Canada Post (Part 1)
Supplier Performance: Lessons from Canada Post (Part 2)

The Value of Proactivity in the Current Business Environment

Today’s guest post is from Robert Rudzki, a former Fortune 500 senior executive of supply management who now runs Greybeard Advisors, a strategic management consulting firm.

Bob has authored several business books including Beat the Odds: Avoid Corporate Death and Build a Resilient Enterprise and Straight to the Bottom Line.

He can be reached at rudzki <at> greybeardadvisors <dot> com and found on the SCMR Transformation Leadership blog.

Now is the time NOT to hunker down in a fox hole; rather, this is the time to be pro-active. One idea: take the opportunity to perform a candid assessment of your supply management and procurement practices. More companies are doing just that. In fact, in the past few months, my firm, Greybeard Advisors, has experienced an increase in requests for proposals to perform such assessments.

Proactive companies of all sizes seem to have renewed interest and seriousness about a number of critical topics:

  • understanding – candidly – how their current practices compare to “best practices”
  • identifying the specific financial opportunities, and quantifying them
  • developing a prioritized plan of action that creates near-term wins
  • using those near-term wins to help fund true strategic transformation along numerous dimensions required for achieving world-class status

Clearly, some of this renewed interest can be attributed to concerns about the economic downturn. But, what really excites us as practitioner-advisors: some of these companies are approaching it for other reasons; namely, wanting to be the premier firm in their industry, and realizing that procurement and supply management is a way to get there. Done well, procurement and supply management can impact not just total costs, but also revenues, and working capital. And that can have a powerful effect on total financial performance (ROIC, ROE, EPS).

These are very difficult and challenging times – all the more reason to approach your job with creativity, resolve and leadership.

Having been through a number of business cycles as a Fortune 500 corporate officer, I can attest to the challenge – and the opportunity – of being proactive in this environment. Companies that maintain their strategic focus and work to create their future will be well prepared to reap the benefits when the economy improves.

Thanks, Bob!

 

Get a Grip on Supplier Risk

In modern supply chains, supplier risk is no longer limited to supply disruptions or quality lapses and also includes legal, financial, and brand risk, as evidenced by recent catastrophes which have caused unequalled harm of a preventable nature to pets and people alike. Nor is supply risk limited to products, as approximately 80% of the US economy is now driven by service industries. Risks need to be managed, as highlighted in a recent Supply Chain Management Review article on “Coming to Grips with Supplier Risk”.

Furthermore, they need to be managed counter-intuitively. According to the article, there are three situations where this is the case:

  • Amount of Spend does not Matter
    Many supply management organizations sort their suppliers by descending spend and focus their attention on the top 20% of suppliers that make up 80% of the spend. But low spend suppliers can be a source of significant risk as well. A cheap part in an expensive engine can cause the engine to fail. Data theft (enabled) by (the poor security practices of) a small IT provider can cause irreparable damage to a retailer’s brand, and lead to lawsuits.
  • Return on Risk Management can be Tough to Measure
    There’s no measurable return until the risk materializes and you can quantify the avoided loss. Until then, it’s only possible to estimate the impact using a metric that takes the probability of the risk and the expected magnitude of the loss.
  • You Will NOT Be Fully Prepared for Some Risk Events
    Even the most successful risk management programs only reduce the impact of a risk, they do not eliminate it.

So where do you start? As I hinted above, start by graphing the probability of occurrence vs. the expected impact of each risk. The greatest risks are those with a high probability of occurrence and a large expected impact.

The result of this first step is a prioritized list of risks that need to be addressed in the sourcing process, which starts with Supplier Qualification. In this phase, a supplier is researched to determine whether or not it has adequate controls in place to address the identified risks. If it does, requirements are laid out that a supplier has to agree to before it is allowed to participate in the negotiations.

The qualification phase should also involve the creation of centralized, systematic, and readily accessible records of suppliers, products, and verifiable certifications. This augments a supplier risk database that provides a searchable repository of supplier risk profiles, as well as documented audit trails to show that the risks have been assessed, that controls have been developed, and that the supplier has the necessary certifications.

After a supplier has been selected, risk management proceeds with supplier performance monitoring. This not only helps to ensure the strength and safety of the supply chain, but it also identifies potential risks in supplier performance and compliance and makes it easier to identify problems before they occur.

Supplier performance monitoring makes it possible to set baseline goals, to tie those to performance scores, and to create alerts if those goals are not met. It also means that companies can identify not just when a target is missed but whether key milestone dates are not met, which would flag an impending problem. Monitoring also allows suppliers to provide feedback to the supply management organization in order to enhance collaboration. Suppliers can monitor their own performance against company goals and objectives.

Once monitoring is in place, the next phase of risk management is collaboration which goes beyond simply identifying the symptoms of a problem to determine its root causes. This allows a company to reduce future risks and maximize the value of its relationship.

So what do you need to do? According to the SCMR article, you need to:

  1. Ensure the Right Focus
    Focus on the big risks and the benefits of risk management.
  2. Engage Stakeholders
    This will help ensure you see the big picture.
  3. Align Suppliers with Program Objectives
    If your suppliers are not on board, your efforts will be wasted.
  4. Capture Immediate Benefits
    Early benefits enable buy-in.
  5. Leverage Enabling Technologies
    Enabling technologies, such as e-sourcing, contract management, and collaboration solutions can help improve a program’s efficiency and effectiveness.

In addition, be sure to keep the Supplier Risk Management Framework, as discussed in the iBX Purchasing Transformation Blog, in mind. It captures the basics you need to keep in mind when identifying risks, selecting partners, and implementing risk mitigation strategies.

First out of the Gate: Bob Ferrari

Everytime I launch a new cross-blog series, I always wonder who will be first out of the starting gate, trying to be the first to capture the readers’ minds and hearts. This time it was Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters and The Ferrari Group who posted his Seven Grand Challenges for Supply Chain Management yesterday.

In his first post, he lays out his seven challenges and tackles the first three head on, promising us two more posts on the last two challenges before the week is up. Bob’s Seven Grand Challenges are:

  1. Ubiquity of Portable Computing Leading to Real Time Sensory Networks
  2. True Supply Chain Business Intelligence and Decision Making Tools
  3. Managing the Explosion of Data and Information Needs in Global Based Value Chains
  4. Managing Supply Chain Risk Management on a Global Basis
  5. Who Assumes Ownership for the Extended Supply Chain?
  6. Articulating the Value and Consequences of Supply Chain Directly to the C-Suite
  7. A Global Shortage of Talent and Skills in Supply Chain Management

I really like #2, because it meshes with my seventh challenge of Opportunity Analysis. Today’s supply chains are filled with untapped opportunities, and you’re going to need good business intelligence and decision making tools to find them. And we’re definitely on the same page with #4! Risk is everywhere, and supply chain disruptions are still rising rapidly, due, primarily, to poorly managed, if not unmanaged, risk.

I’m not convinced of #1, #3, and #5 though.

1. I can certainly see the value of Real-Time Sensory Networks and systems self-updating as soon as product is detected in area B when it was in area A, but I don’t think this is going to add that much efficiency, especially if we had integrated physical, financial, and information-based supply chains where all it took to accept a complete shipment was logging into the shared system and checking “received”. Plus, I don’t want to see us become over-dependent on technology. What happens on that fateful day, which always happens eventually, when it fails and no one knows how to do it manually?

3. I believe that managing the data explosion is an IT challenge, because it goes well beyond just supply chain and supply chain systems. Data explosion is everywhere, and it’s IT’s job to build the databases, marts, and warehouses we need to manage it. It’s Supply Chain’s job to select from the best systems out there. Bob makes some great points in his post, but I’m not sold.

5. I think this is a great question to ask, but it’s not really a challenge, because, in my view, it’s trivial to answer. The CEO. Today, your company is your supply chain. Sure you have a CSCO who’s job is to manage the chain on a daily basis, but the buck should ultimately stop with the CEO. Nonetheless, I’m waiting to see what Bob has to say on this one …

And #’s 6 and 7 certainly have me thinking!

If we go back to the Top Three challenge, David Bush of e-Sourcing Forum and Iasta proclaimed that the top-three challenges of supply chain today were Adoption, Adoption, Adoption. This is a cry I’m hearing from e-Sourcing and e-Procurement companies across the board. And even though this is the perfect economy for those providers, because e-Sourcing and e-Procurement software is about the only way to reign in your spending during the deflationary/slowdown/recession economy we’ve been in for a while now, the cry only seems to be getting louder. Maybe it is a longer term challenge than I give it credit for. I’m anxious to see what Bob offers up on this one!

I’m definitely on board with #7! If you check out the talent category here on SI, you’ll see that I’ve essentially been whining about this problem since day one! It’s a huge challenge right now, and it’s going to be for at least the next five years. However, history tells us that talent shortages tend to resolve themselves over a ten to fifteen year window. Once demand gets high enough, and stays high enough for a few years, students, anxious to have a job when they graduate college / university, see that as a good career choice and take educational paths that will prepare them for that careeer. Young professionals ready for a career change go “back to school” (through night courses, part time programs, private programs, etc.), prepare themselves for that industry, and move on in. Simultaneously, the industry, desperately short on talent and needing to get through the day, re-engineers its processes, automates as many tactical functions as it can, and learns to do more with less. After ten to fifteen years, the talent shortage drops to a manageable level. And I’m looking at a twenty to twenty-five year window with these challenges. It’s definitely a major challenge … but is it important enough to knock, say, GHG Tracking and Reduction off of my list? I don’t know. But I’m definitely anxious to see what Bob has to say on this one too!

the doctor’s Seven Grand Challenges for Supply & Spend Management

Seven deadly sins
Seven ways to win
Seven holy paths to hell
And your trip begins

Seven downward slopes
Seven bloodied hopes
Seven are your burning fires
Seven your desires….
  Adrian Smith / Bruce Dickinson

In my last post, which announced the cross-blog series that this post is officially kicking off, I reviewed the seven grand challenges for IT over the next twenty-five years, as laid out by Gartner back in the spring. Although they ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, and contained a fair amount of overlap when closely analyzed, it’s a worthwhile exercise to undertake every now and again, because in order to develop a useful solution, you need to identify what is needed and the path you should be on.

This inspired me to propose a set of “seven grand challenges” for supply and spend management, in the hopes that it would get you, dear reader, to think about what is important, what problems should be solved, and where we should go. Considering how important supply management is in these troubled times, I hope that all of my fellow bloggers chime in with their ideas on what’s good, what’s bad, and, what’s downright ugly in supply chain today — because the first step in solving a problem is properly identifying it.

So, without further ado, to kick off this cross-blog series, here are the doctor‘s proposals for the seven grand supply and spend management challenges:

  • Optimization
    There are a number of challenges here. The first challenge is getting people to use solutions that are already out there. There are currently a number of offerings that address strategic sourcing decision optimization, distribution network optimization, and freight optimization quite well, and that, when properly applied, can save the average company up to 12% above and beyond the best solution obtained with auctions. The second challenge is integrating the different problems (sourcing optimization, freight optimization, network optimization, etc.) into a common framework that allows the tradeoff effects of each decision to be adequately modeled and understood in the big picture. The third problem is addressing the emerging non-quantitative regulatory and compliance requirements such as RoHS, WEEE, and GHG emission limits in a consistent and value-oriented manner within the optimization model.
  • Supplier Enablement
    This is something we still don’t have a good handle on. Beyond “supplier enablement is the provision of technology based solutions that enable the supplier to be more productive and better serve the buyer”, there isn’t yet a general consensus of what this technology needs to be, as most companies have not yet embraced B2B 3.0. I’ve argued before that, today, it’s a combination of catalogs, networks, e-Document exchange and management, and supplier portal technology, and I still think that is a good start, but enablement should go beyond enabling the exchange of information, it should improve the supplier’s operations overall.
  • Integration of the Physical, Information, & Financial Chains
    For most companies, these are three different chains. Some companies that have embraced RFID, GPS, and e-document management have taken the first steps to integrating the physical and information flows, but the technology is still emerging, the integration isn’t smooth without extensive integration and customization between a number of different solutions (and only Fortune 500 companies can even afford to consider this), and we have only started to look at the financial supply chain and how to best integrate it with the information supply chain. I think it will be a while before solutions that truly support a holistic view will emerge, especially considering that even the gorillas in the space don’t have end-to-end sourcing and procurement.
  • Solution Globalization
    Let’s face it … supply chains today are truly global, but the solutions are not. Most “internationalized” solutions are only available in a smattering of languages, most “internationalized” solutions are not plugged into real-time currency exchange feeds — and few developers have thought about the need to maintain/display multiple conversions (including the rate at the time of purchase, the projected rate, the current rate, etc.), and most “internationalized” solutions don’t help you understand how to do business with the country of interest.
  • GHG Tracking and Reduction
    Most enlightened countries have woken up to the fact that, even though we don’t know precisely how damaging each ton of GHG and / or carbon we emit is, we do know that it’s damaging and that we have to reduce our emissions. The first step is to get a baseline of the emissions produced by your operations, but for many companies, this is a multi-year effort. Better product and service solutions are needed. Also, although there are multiple proposals on the table to reduce emissions, there are few total value management models out there to help us select the right ones.
  • Risk Prevention
    Not only is risk not going away, but it’s getting worse by the year. Supply chains are getting more complex by the year, and the likelihood of something going wrong is steadily increasing. Solutions that can help a company identify risks, in real time, and identify possible mitigations and actions required to implement them, are desperately needed.
  • Opportunity Analysis
    Costs are skyrocketing, but consumer discretionary spending is stagnant at best. They key to a successful supply chain is cost reduction and avoidance, and this requires continual opportunity analysis. I envision this starting with modern spend analysis, but it needs to go beyond true spend analysis to continual innovation, since the greatest cost reductions will come from true revolutions, and not just the shrewd identification of category-based overspending. I envision that this will start with the integration of PLM with Life Cycle Analysis and Next Generation Analytics and then morph into something that none of us can envision today.

Now, I realize that these are pretty much the same problems we have been facing for the last five to ten years, but I suspect that it will be quite a while before they are solved due to the overwhelming complexity of today’s supply chains.

When the series is done, I’ll compile the “master list” of challenges and, if any of my fellow bloggers can convince me there are bigger challenges out there, revise my list.