In today’s volatile manufacturing landscape, disruptions are inevitable. Supplier shutdowns, quality issues, geopolitical risks — all can force companies to re-source production at a moment’s notice.
The challenge? Moving fast without missing critical delivery deadlines & juggling current production runs.
Here are three proven strategies to quickly re-source production without derailing your timelines on current production:
1. Build and Maintain a Pre-Qualified Supplier Bench
The time to find backup suppliers isn’t when disaster strikes — it’s long before. Proactively building a “bench” of pre-qualified suppliers ensures ready alternatives when the need arises.
Vet suppliers for:
- Technical capabilities and certifications
- Lead times and capacity flexibility
- Pricing competitiveness
- Financial stability, performance
2. Run Periodic Global Price Benchmarking Studies
The more customized your parts and processes, the harder it will be to re-source quickly. This makes periodic supplier cost benchmarking studies a very valuable exercise to engage with capable potential suppliers.
Benefits of benchmarking studies:
- Discovering qualified suppliers for specific categories
- Understanding costs by manufacturing processes
- Comparing costs across different geographical regions
For each of these, the benchmarking study allows you to gather a lot of supplier feedback, which will be across a spectrum whether it’s pricing, quality standards, or delivery performance.
The biggest benefit for procurement teams can be understanding where you can optimize costs & which opportunities to go after for cost reductions.
3. Leverage Technology to Accelerate Supplier Matching
Manual sourcing processes are too slow for today’s disruptions. Excel worksheets & emails that go back and forth for weeks at a time.
Modern sourcing platforms use AI and real-time databases to match buyers with qualified manufacturers quickly, turning this process from weeks to hours.
Technology helps you accelerate:
- Identifying qualified suppliers for your project
- Vetting supplier capabilities against your specs
This ensures that you quickly get the right supplier without wasting time on going through multiple different websites, evaluating capabilities, company presentations & more.
Speed and precision in supplier discovery reduce downtime and help you hit production targets.
By maintaining a strong supplier bench, running periodic global cost benchmarking studies and embracing technology-driven sourcing tools to accelerate supplier discovery, manufacturers can re-source projects swiftly & stay on schedule.
