A company can have a highly tuned operation grind to a stop if its supply chain cannot keep up. The same can happen to your improvement efforts if your suppliers are working with conflicting goals. To reach your future state, you will need to harness your supplier's energy with consistent, effective tools. By having hundreds of supplier working towards a common goal, you will have immense leverage in your pursuit of world-class performance. It is a competitive world, however, and it is imperative that any improvement program enhances competition while improving performance. Allegro's supply chain assessment is designed to measure this effectiveness in several keep areas:

Continuous Improvement: insure that your supply chain is working toward the same continuous improvement goals.

Globalization: can you source quality products and services at significantly lower total cost by identifying, qualifying, and developing suppliers in lower cost countries.

Standardization: drive standard sourcing processes and productivity using Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing methodologies throughout the supply chain.

Digitization: leverage Internet-based technologies to enhance competitive bidding processes and transactional tools to enable paperless sourcing.

By combining these elements with cost-effective, consistent training for the supply base, suppliers can reduce landed cost, while improving quality, enhancing on-time delivery, and strengthening relationships.

copyright 2003 Allegro Manufacturing Consultants, Inc.