If there are companies in which it is not yet known what it is to work as a team internally, to them must be added those that are not aware of what it means to be several companies working together as a team. The high levels of competitiveness, added to the high demands on the part of customers and consumers, has led companies to join forces and innovate in the search for new strategic advantages, something that has taken much greater force even in view of the formation of new economic blocks, constantly reducing product cycles, huge research and development needs, and a continuous increase in fixed costs.
Within this new scheme of competitive development and interrelation of companies, a new and attractive framework has been generated in the supplier-client relationship called "Comakership", a term that goes far beyond a simple integration in operational relationships to focus strongly on everything. regarding co-development, co-design, co-improvement and co-management. Which leads these companies (supplier-client) to an absolutely inseparable common path of progress.
This new way of working together is based on a new philosophy of Procurement, a philosophy based on Total Quality Management and Just in Time production, which implies the development of a strong focus on continuous improvement, and the systematic elimination of waste.
Making this association between suppliers and customers a reality means that the latter significantly reduce the number of suppliers.
Thus the new way of relating by customers, should lead them to:
- Maintain stable long-term relationships. Limit the number of active suppliers. Do not frequently change suppliers. Establish a global rating system. Score suppliers based on total costs rather than price. Achieve optimal cooperation. with suppliers in order to make their processes more reliable and less expensive.
Why the Associated Production? Survival is not enough. The objective is to win the war. We may not be lovers but we must be allies.
New trends in supplier-customer relationships
Deep and accelerated changes are taking place in the supplier-client relationship. Every day the market demand is increasing from companies in terms of quality, certainty of deliveries, flexibility and speed of responses, more fragmented and frequent deliveries, guaranteed improvements, price reductions and new and constant innovations.
Companies within this new structure of demands and pressures are forced to generate constant adjustments in the competitive margins in the areas of cost, quality and flexibility to survive in the current market.
Seen from a narrow perspective and sticking to past paradigms, these changes constitute and are seen by managers as an increasing difficulty. But seen with a broader approach and adapted to the paradigms of the new millennium and the knowledge age, the new circumstances are considered as a phenomenal opportunity to improve the business capabilities of the company and to obtain strong increases in market share. or an important competitive dislocation. Thus, within this new trend, the companies that first adapt to the new requirements will be the most benefited.
Not reacting in time, nor knowing how to adapt to the new circumstances of the environment, will undoubtedly give rise to serious inconveniences in the company's ability to generate value in the future.
The development of the new supplier-client relationship, "Comakership" is a priority factor in industrial strategy, because the need to use the logic of Comakership is inherent in all the strategic developments that are taking place today, the most notable being the following:
1. Quality control at group level. This implies that the supplier guarantees the quality of the products and supplies delivered, committing to continuous improvement in quality levels.
2. Value chains. The strategic-competitive objective focuses on the need to maximize the value generated by the business chain, which range from the production of inputs to consumption by final consumers.
3. Total Manufacturing Management. Related to Just in Time, it leads to significant cost reductions not only in supplies, but also in all support processes (both logistical and administrative).
4. Development of the product-process binomial. Objective: to concentrate more effort in the design stage of products and processes in a joint way, in order to generate a strong impact both in cycle times and in total costs.
Company Strategy and Competitive Advantages
Achieving competitive advantages for a company implies the consolidation of three fundamental strategic factors, which are costs, services, quality and innovations. Regardless of how strategic factors are selected and combined, the basic and essential element today is the time factor. Without a correct distribution of time, the other possible competitive advantages are not helpful, and may even constitute weaknesses. In this way, costs will be an advantage as long as the production process has high flexibility (that is, short preparation times for production) rather than generating savings through large production batches.On the service / delivery side it involves achieving benefits through quick responses at the right time rather than basing the service on possession of stocks. Quality will only be an advantage as long as it can be achieved in a short period of time. And finally, innovation will have a value whenever new products are introduced to the market in a short time; otherwise, the effort is useful to the competitor.
The strategy today is to capitalize time as a critical source of competitive advantage, shortening planning deadlines in the product development cycle, adjusting times in the manufacturing process; managing time in the same way that most companies manage costs, quality or inventory.
As a strategic weapon, time is as important and valuable today as money, productivity, quality and innovation.
For the reasons described above, it is necessary to systematically control and reduce the times for:
Research and develop new products.
Start new production.
Carry out the processing (manufacturing - production).
To change production.
Distribute the products.
Obtain and process information for decision making.
Suppliers are co-protagonists not only in quality, costs and innovation, but also in time. Hence the importance of Comakership as a fundamental system to reduce time.
If a company seeks its competitive advantage by focusing on costs, its suppliers must assume responsibility not only for the percentage with which they contribute to the formation of the total cost (generally over 50%) but also for actively participating in the search for solutions. designed to achieve a lower total cost.
On the other hand, suppliers, faced with the need to respond quickly and flexibly to changes or alterations in the volumes and characteristics of demand, must be willing to be flexible, without forcing customers to inventory a large quantity of supplies, with the costs that this entails in terms of inventory management, financial costs and losses due to obsolescence.
As for achieving optimum quality, it is only feasible to the extent that the inputs are of high quality. The importance of quality in the total cost of supplies is essential, and to achieve this quality, a commitment from the supplier is necessary, keeping variations under control and constantly improving performance levels.
The contribution that suppliers can make to innovation processes is very important, with the final contribution that can be made both in terms of processes and products, both their own and their customers. This may lead to both cost reduction and better products and services, both in terms of quality and design and comfort.
Conclusions
Supplier-customer relationships are changing rapidly and profoundly. The philosophy that inspires the strategic changes taking place in the industry decisively affects these relationships. In this way, the total quality approach and the just in time organizational models are modifying the way in which the supplier sector operates. In this way and as Paul Hawken says, "principals need to go back to school and learn to be more open and cooperative."
In this new hyper-competitive economy, economic survival will require a whole new set of behavioral rules.
In the 21st century economy, virtually all products, services and manufacturing processes will be completely modified and redesigned; and in this new philosophy and approach, the paradigm shift around Provisioning is of paramount importance.
The comakership had its beginnings in Japan, but today it has become an essential and fundamental application in all western companies that have aspirations to compete and survive in the new global market. If there is one aspect that has been taken into account by corporations from various parts of the globe in terms of Japanese management techniques, it has been the cooperation between client companies and their suppliers in terms of modern supply management.
In the days and years to come, logistics will take on an increasing role as an essential function and management for both strategic and operational purposes. This management will be developed in conjunction with continuous improvement in terms of quality, productivity, costs, response times and levels of satisfaction.
The comakership comes to synthesize the joint and systematic development between logistics and the continuous improvement of organizational processes and activities.
A large number of western companies show the exceptional results achieved from this new conception in the supply process. Thus companies of the magnitude of General Motors, Ford, Hewlett Packard, Chrysler, Xerox, Fiat, IBM, Italtel, Philips, Whirlpool, Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, Scannia, and Caterpillar, among others, are the companies that guarantee with its performances and levels of competitiveness, the fundamental axes of comakership as a technique and supply system.
Annex 1 - The Ten Principles of Supplier-Customer Relations
| Premise: The preconditions for proper relationships between the customer and the provider are mutual trust and cooperation within the framework of responsibility towards the end customers. Suppliers and customers must remain independent and must respect the independence of the other to maintain a relationship of trust based on the rules of the open market.
II. Both suppliers and customers are responsible for applying quality control with knowledge and mutual cooperation regarding the control systems used. III. The customer is responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of the information and specifications for the supplier so that he can understand what is required of him. IV. Before entering into a relationship, suppliers and customers must adopt a suitable contract on quality, quantities, prices, delivery conditions and payment methods. V. Once he has knowledge of the nature of the products or services to be supplied, the supplier is responsible for giving a level of quality that fully satisfies the client. SAW. The methods and resources used to determine the specifications, satisfactory to both parties, must be chosen beforehand. VII. The contract that governs the relationship should allow a preliminary agreement on the system and procedures to be used, in the event of disagreements, to achieve a friendly resolution. VIII. The parties are obliged to exchange the information necessary to obtain the best level of quality control, according to their respective situations. IX. Both the supplier and the customer must have the ability to ensure control of each phase of their own processes (from order intake to production, scheduling, employees and systems) in accordance with approved policies to allow friendly cooperation. X. In the deal between both parties, the supplier and the client must keep in mind the needs of the final consumer. |
Annex 2 - Cost Elements
| Quality Costs |
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| Costs related to delivery reliability |
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| Response time costs (time for delivery of supplies) |
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| Supply lot costs |
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| Costs related to lack of improvement |
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| Technological obsolescence cost |
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Exhibit 3 - Hewlett Packard and what she expects from her suppliers
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Annex 4 - Preventive Evaluation of Suppliers
| Assessment program |
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| Preparation for assessment | It includes the organization of a series of documents: · A notification letter regarding the evaluation visit.
· A general procedure for evaluating suppliers. · An evaluation plan. · The types of analysis to be carried out. |
| Main phases of the evaluation | Phase A: verify the documentation (manuals, procedures, cycles to check the specifications, purchase orders, design, etc.). Phase B: Verify the control of the production processes.
Phase C: Feedback to compare phases A and B. |
Annex 5 - Advantages of Comakership for development
The Comakership leads us to:
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Annex 6 - Conditions for the Comakership
- Motivation - Benefit
- Flexibility
- Respect promises
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Annex 7 - Criteria for the selection of potential Comaker producers
- Organization - Methods
- Development (design) - Logistics - Purchases
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Annex 8 - Four principles of Quality for Suppliers
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Annex 9 - Supplier Training
| level | courses |
| High direction |
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| Middle Management |
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| Supervisors |
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