Collaboration is the Key to Reducing Costs

IndustryWeek (9/16, Blanchard) – For small and mid-sized manufacturers, the earliest stages of new business opportunities can pose significant risks, observes Dennis Thompson, president and CEO of DSN Innovations, a supply chain research organization. "Missteps during the request for proposal (RFP) process and first article production can result in pared-down profit margins -- and in the worst cases -- lost business," he notes.

In the pilot project, the customer was a large organization that required high-precision parts. Potential suppliers were issued an RFP enhanced with an advanced technical data package (A-TDP), which helped facilitate a more rapid bid response with reduced NRE costs. According to Thompson, "suppliers shaved an average of 53% of total hours required to prepare an RFP response…To effectively utilize the A-TDP tool, customers and suppliers must share and collaborate around this technical data, he says. Improved collaboration is a key concept of what Thompson describes as network-centric manufacturing (NCM), "a supply chain management practice that promotes the rapid assembly and seamless coordination of dynamic supplier networks to accelerate production and reduce costs on both sides of the transaction." As he elaborates, a Web-based coordination infrastructure serves as a common ground for customers and suppliers to communicate critical project details.