Its a generally understood requirement in todays competitive aluminium B to B supply chain that you want your business to have a Unique Value Proposition, an excellent customer - supplier relationship and in return become their preferred supplier of choice. A good relationship can allow for easier negotiations on increasing premiums, guarantee larger take-offs, joint R and D projects and open doors to other VAP (Value Added Products) within their portfolio such as packaging, automotive, marine or aerospace and of course bring onboard qualification opportunities in their other production sites within the company. It could also lead to opportunities to produce alternative products currently not supplied like High Purity, Wire Rod or Extrusion Billets.
Avoid being a "me 2" supplier!, set and then lead the way...
As a supplier you should places a strong focus on the development and output of value-added products (VAP) at the higher end of the upstream business. This will bring in a higher premium and kudos for your business from your competitors and peers.
Always have the aim to be a global leading supplier for delivery, high quality and of course technical support.
Personnel retainment, succession planning and recruitment of key personnel is paramount to sustain your annual growth plan and demonstrates to your customer that you have all bases covered and are, more importantly, serious about your business and improvement initiatives.
In-house R&D centres and test laboratories provide the company with a strong competitive advantage. Ensure all certification, calibrations and QA plans are regularly reviewed for conformity. There could be nothing more destructive than to have a world class laboratory and find that the certified standards, calibration or international certification have expired, it happens and al lot more than you would think.
Your customer will no doubt have ever changing needs and the needs should be considered as a "moving target". Keep on top of this with a regular dialogue, be that by customer / supplier meetings or with your annual customer / supplier survey, although the frequency may be too drawn out. In recent times using Zoom, Facetime or WebEx online meetings have proven to be very successful and this may be an alternative to face to face.
Demonstrate during your meetings that you closely evaluate market demands and adapt your product portfolio accordingly to meet the markets ever changing needs.
Focus on differentiating your product portfolio based on demand, trends, R and D results and applications.
Further develop your technical sales team to have world class recognised experts. The team should be built with a cross functioning skillset, academic, fully competent in Lean, CI, TQM and International and regional quality standards (VDA 6.3, ISO9001, IATF 16949 etc)..
As I'm mostly biased to quality, customer support and technical sales, for the remainder of the blog I will focus on this area, needless to say that Planning, Marketing, Sales, Logistics and Transport also require extensive support and attention to detail in a similar manner and the process should cover the entirety of relations to maximise on the supplier / customer relationship.
If we discuss some of the technical aspects to move 'up the league' as a supplier, focus should be on the following, these are in no particular order of preference but meant to stimulate interest:
(1) : Bespoke Solutions:
Provide unique bespoke local solutions to customers for downstream quality, process and productivity improvements. This can be in the form of on or offsite support. remote working or training. Its always enlightening for technical personnel to visit the client and walk in his shoes, it will broaden your teams experience and promotes the feeling of teamwork between you and the customer.
(2) : Research and development:
If you have R and D facilities, use them!. You can work in collaboration with the customer on his next product(s). Having your 'finger in his pie' brings about stonger bonds, future sales opportunities and allows cooperation on alloy development opportunities, de-snagging possible production problems both at his premises and yours.
(3) : Product Qualification:
Keep this process simple. A fast qualification plan with accurate process capability analysis will work wonders with your customer. Ensure that his production samples (OES disc, metallurgical slice) and chemical composition are sent on time and are received either before or with his product.
Don't forget for automotive clients a Control Plan, PPAP and PFMEA will be required.
(4) : Technical Support:
The value of technical support to both your internal and external customer can never be understated. (But, I would say this!). It brings about a camaraderie between colleagues and clients alike. The support should develop KPI's (Key Performance Indictors) to keep production aligned with your technical team and more importantly your customers expectations. Use a statistical data approach to quality monitoring. Display performance charts (as below) within the production areas, keep your teams informed not only the customer. Don't neglect this task and only apply to automotive clients. Set the standard for all products to avoid process uncertainty and standardise work instructions and training. It could be debated that this additional work is unnecessary, however I'm my experience more damage is caused by having two or three separate process routes rather than one simplified version, albeit more demanding.
Have a regular dialogue with your customer. This includes the internal and external customer. Share your customers expectations with the production team, let them know 'WHY' your giving them a 'hard time' with the demands you put on them in the work instruction. Constructive communication is the key to success.
Use your team! They are technical experts in their respective field. Ask them to conduct internal and external training, deliver technical seminars, workshops, roadshows and conferences.
Support OEM and customer joint developments opportunities.
(5) : Benchmarking:
In any industry its always good to keep abreast of what your competition is doing, how the industry is developing and what the OEM's are working on. Trade shows, conferences, training and professional publications can add value to the technical team but don't always look outside your organisation. Challenge your internal process, this can be stressful and strain internal relations but stay professional and look at what the equipment was designed to do (name plate) and how you can stress the process to do more.
Debottleneck and move the goalpost. Keep going until your satisfied that you have looked at all areas of production, packing and logistics.
Benchmarking will release additional capacity, indicate how good you are, indicate areas of improvement and address professional support required for any business case for future CAPEX projects.
(6) : Claims Management:
Even the best companies in the world have occasionally dissatisfied customer and claims. The key to success is how you handle them.
Claims should be professionally addressed, not all customer claims are legitimate of course, however this is more than likely to be a misunderstanding on their behalf rather than a breach of trust or devious endeavour. Talk with your customer and understand their position.
Follow a routine claims management process, have a written SWI (Standard Work Instruction) and follow it. This should follow a very simple and time dependant route, as an example...
A) Acknowledge the claim request in writing and request samples (if applicable) (usually within 24 hours).
B) Enter the claim into your management system (EMS, ERP or CRM for example).
C) Measure the impact and any containment required for current WIP or material in transit.
D) Start your internal investigation using your preferred process methodology (5 Y's, RCCA, 8D etc)
E) Share with your customer and compensate (if applicable), Perform this task as quickly and accurately as possible and aligned with your SWI.
F) Validate the learnings on other production lines, facilities within the group, other customers products or alloys.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog, please feel free to share with your friends and colleagues and remember the process of building good relationships with your customers is a long term initiative and it wont be done overnight.
Your customers are of course aware of this, but its better to demonstrate that your on the path and moving forward than to stay still and fall behind the competition.
Should you still require further help on this particular subject reach out and please contact : albergtech@gmail.com
George