Integrated Supplier Management: A Key Part of the Product Design & Development Lifecycle

In the world of product design and development, integrated supplier management plays a vital role, often working behind the scenes to shape the final outcome of the finished product. Suppliers provide the essential building blocks, from raw materials to components, influencing product quality and efficiency. In this blog, we'll delve into the key role that integrated supplier management plays in the product development process.

As is often repeated, the quality of inputs (raw materials and components) has a strong impact on the quality of the final product. Integrating supplier processes must be at the front and center of the product development lifecycle.

Suppliers are integral to the supply chain, affecting the product's performance, availability, and delivery timelines. Efficient supply chain management ensures that components are available when needed, in the required quantities, and conforming to the specified standards, without delays.

Where Supplier Management Matters in PLM: 10 Key Aspects to Remember

Therefore, the choice of reliable and high-quality suppliers is a critical aspect of product development. To make the product lifecycle effective, some of the key aspects of supplier relationship include:

• Design Collaboration: Product designers and engineers regularly interact with suppliers during the design phase. Input from suppliers can influence design decisions, ensuring feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and manufacturability. Ensuring this during the design phase minimizes rework and changes later, making the process more efficient.
• Prototype Development: Suppliers are involved in producing prototypes or samples to validate the design and manufacturing processes. Feedback from suppliers during this phase helps identify potential challenges and improvements.
• Bill of Materials: Suppliers are responsible for supplying the manufacturing components or assembling the final product based on design specifications and the bill of materials. On-time delivery, supplying the right quantity, adherence to quality standards, and cost-effective production are critical contributions that affect pricing, performance, and customer satisfaction.
• Quality Assurance: Because suppliers play a vital role in ensuring the quality of the supplied materials or components, they may implement quality control processes and provide documentation to validate compliance with specifications and standards and reduce product risks.
• Cost Management: Suppliers impact the overall cost of the product through material costs, manufacturing processes, and logistical considerations. Effective cost management by suppliers contributes to the product's competitiveness in the market.
• Regulatory Compliance: Suppliers must adhere to regulatory requirements relevant to their products or materials. Ensuring that suppliers meet regulatory standards is critical to the overall compliance of the final developed product.
• Innovation and Technology Integration: Suppliers bring innovation to the table, introducing new materials, processes, or technologies. Collaboration with innovative suppliers can enhance the product's features and capabilities.
• Risk Management: Suppliers can contribute to risk mitigation by having contingency plans for potential disruptions. In case of any change requests, providing risk information to enable informed decision-making about the proposed change is essential.
• Environmental and Ethical Considerations: Suppliers may be evaluated based on their environmental sustainability and ethical practices to ensure that the parts they supply meet with the required standards for sustainable product development.
• Continuous Improvement: Ongoing collaboration with suppliers allows for continuous improvement in processes and product quality. Feedback loops with suppliers help identify areas for enhancement and optimization of resource utilization for product development.

Challenges to Supplier Management with Legacy PLM Systems

In today's fast-paced, data-driven, highly regulated environment, legacy systems cannot meet the demand for speed, security, and efficiency. As the manufacturer sources components from different suppliers, ensuring the right quantity and standardized quality across the board, delivered timely, can be a nightmare to coordinate in a manual or legacy system.

Here's a look at the challenges ingrained in legacy systems:

• Siloed Information: Information is scattered across different platforms and departments, creating data silos. Collaboration becomes a challenge, and a holistic view of supplier-related activities is elusive.
• Manual Mayhem: Heavy reliance on manual processes results in time-consuming workflows, increasing the likelihood of errors. It's a drain of valuable resources that leads to reworks, scrappage, and wastage. In some industries like life sciences, it can also lead to warning letters and recalls.
• Poor Visibility: Are some of the errors recurring too frequently? Which areas are a cause for concern and what are the risk trends? Do the components meet the specifications? These become difficult to understand and monitor in the absence of data. Further, identifying suppliers who consistently fail to meet the standards can be difficult, making proactive decision-making a challenging endeavor.
• Managing Changes-always a nightmare: Product development is an iterative process where requirements and specifications keep changing. In addition, adapting to evolving industry standards can be cumbersome. Updates or modifications become a lengthy and costly process in the absence of automated systems, leaving organizations vulnerable to compliance gaps.
• Collaboration Woes: Collaboration, effective communication, and transparency become challenging in the absence of a unified platform. This can lead to delays in reviews and approvals, version confusion, missed communications, etc. Stakeholders within an organization and its suppliers struggle to work seamlessly together.

AI-Driven PLM: A Paradigm Shift in Supplier Management During Product Development

Implementing AI-driven PLM software can transform the product development lifecycle, enabling operational excellence due to improved visibility and transparency. Some of the benefits include:

• Centralized and Connected: AI-driven PLM enables automation of the entire lifecycle management, right from supplier documentation to performance metrics. A centralized platform breaks down information silos and fosters collaboration, seamlessly integrating different workflows.
• Automated Workflows: AI enables the automation of processes, reducing human error, accelerating workflows, and freeing up resources for more strategic initiatives.
• Predictive Analytics: Access to data enables capturing trends and anticipating supplier performance to identify potential risks before they escalate. It also improves decision-making by providing insights into supplier performance and capabilities.
• Enhanced Collaboration: AI-based solutions provide tools for effective communication and real-time information sharing. Stakeholders across departments and suppliers can work collaboratively, fostering transparency. This also improves change management as sharing documents, approvals, and reviews becomes easier.

Improved Supplier Management with ComplianceQuest PLM

ComplianceQuest’s PLM is a cloud-based, AI-driven Solution built on Salesforce that provides insights to identify areas for optimization, reduce lead times, and minimize errors. It makes operations more cost-effective and improves supplier management, improving the bottom line, customer satisfaction, and product quality. It is integrated with a supplier management solution, part of its EQMS suite, which ensures greater transparency and collaboration. Some of the features that enable it include:

• Design Controls: As changes are made to the design based on new needs, it ensures all stakeholders downstream have the updated information to minimize errors. Suppliers are made aware of changing requirements to ensure they deliver the right components, in the right quantity and of the right quality.
• Collaboration and Communication: The cloud-based ComplianceQuest PLM Solution enables suppliers and partners to view updated documents and provide inputs. This makes the design and development process more efficient and effective.
• Change Management: Change management improves due to version control. All stakeholders can view the latest change and the status of the documentation before taking action. This minimizes errors and confusion.
• Risk-based Approach: Assess the past performance of the suppliers, assess risks, implement controls, or seek alternatives from the ASL. Data access enables businesses to quickly identify potential risks and mitigate them quickly.
• User-Friendly Interface: ComplianceQuest’s user-friendly interface ensures that organizations can harness the power of AI without the need for extensive training. The platform's intuitive design empowers users to navigate complexities effortlessly, making supplier management a streamlined and efficient process.

ComplianceQuest also plays a crucial role in aiding organizations to meet regulations and standards such as ISO 14001, GDPR, OSHA, etc. in developing their products. The software fosters sustainable supplier practices, aligning seamlessly with environmental objectives. From tracking carbon footprints to managing eco-friendly material sourcing, ComplianceQuest's AI-driven PLM provides the necessary tools for organizations to be environmentally conscious while ensuring supplier compliance.

To request a demo of our next-generation PLM software, visit: www.compliancequest.com/online-demo