Improve Your Supply Chain Performance With These 5 Tips
When it comes to successful procurement, having a steady supply chain is a crucial element. Supply chain managers are tasked with optimising efficiency strategies as the business climate evolves and as the company grows.
Every stage of the supply chain must be thoroughly evaluated and monitored to deliver when needed. This is especially challenging when dealing with various internal and external factors, including contracting, which comes at the beginning of the supply chain cycle.
Excellent contract management is the key to success in improving your supply chain performance. By following these top tips, you can make your procurement process even more effective.
1. Study Possible Risks and How to Mitigate Them
Working with another company and expecting them to deliver quality goods on time will always carry a certain level of risk. Controlling and eliminating larger issues, where possible, should be a priority for your company to ensure timeliness and quality as much as possible.
Consider the supplier’s scope of products, geography, and size to assess what risks can be mitigated and how you can put a contingency plan in place if these problems cannot be avoided.
2. Screen Your Suppliers Thoroughly
Effective contract management processes are worth nothing unless you make good decisions about which suppliers to contract with. When you’re establishing a steady stream of goods and services, choosing the right suppliers is essential, so take the time you need to conduct detailed due diligence.
Check online information and reviews, and after moving onto the next step, don’t be afraid to ask your prospective supplier for more information. Request a tour of their facilities and some references. These details will help you make a more informed decision and will effectively screen suppliers that may potentially have issues later down the line.
3. Centralise Your Contract Management Process
The need for an organised and efficient contract management process will come into play after you have established strong contracts with selected suppliers. Investing in a cloud-based procurement software will allow you to have better contract and supplier management throughout the relationship. Your company will no doubt be working with several suppliers, so centralising everything using one system will prevent misplacing contracts or order redundancies.
4. Keep Track of Important Dates
Purchase and delivery timelines are crucial and can lead to the company’s success or cause significant losses. Although some delays can be minor, they can have a tremendous impact.
Finding a reputable contract management software will ensure that your company can manage a strict schedule with the use of automated alerts. You can create email reminders with ease and have them sent automatically on specific dates so as not to miss any crucial deadlines.
5. Involve Your Stakeholders
Running an effective and efficient supply chain requires the cooperation and collaboration of many people across different departments in your company. From Finance to Human Resources and leaders across top management, everybody needs to work effectively to ensure targets are met.
Establishing good communication systems among key stakeholders must occur regularly; otherwise, you could be dealing with shortages in staffing and production and missed timelines!
Conclusion
Procurement and supply chain performance needs to function like a well-oiled machine to work successfully. Every stage is dependent on the other, and managing it is much like running a tight ship. By investing in the right procurement management software, you can ensure that all the moving parts and the key contributors involved are where they need to be to succeed. The result should be a seamless and efficient supply chain and a more successful procurement process.
Here at oboloo, we aim to help companies add more value to their relationships with partners. With tools such as cloud-based procurement software, we help businesses improve their sourcing as well as their contract and supplier management activities. Start your free trial with us today! oboloo enables organisations to be supplier smart.