Monday Morning Monologue: Do you have suppliers you do not love?

Good Morning!

The first draft of this blog’s title was “Do you have suppliers you hate?” Hate is a strong word, so went with ‘don’t love’ instead. Although some of you may border on hatred toward some suppliers.

If you have suppliers you don’t love, why??? Why are they still your supplier? Why don’t you love them?

Most every time I hear disparaging words associated with a supplier it normally revolves around one thing.

Availability. Not cost, not quality. Availability.

That poor supplier just cannot deliver on time. It creates massive issues for the buying firm. One of the projects outlined on our website (shameless plug) revolved around one firms hatred (yes, it was that bad) toward the other. All because the buying firm could not depend on getting parts at the suppliers stated lead time.

The cost of maintaining a supplier who can’t deliver on time is massive. The buying firm will inevitably resort to hoarding parts (AKA large amounts of safety stock) in the event the supplier goes silent for a few weeks. That cost along with the cost of weekly or even daily conference calls with half a dozen people costs lots of money.

If this sounds familiar, please find a way to cease doing business with that poor supplier. Almost always there is an alternate solution. If you’re struggling with a poor supplier and aren’t sure how to move the work, please let us know.

Have a great week!