Number 55 – Supplier to Customer

Identify opportunities for improvement throughout the extended value stream, from supplier to customer.

Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic

The first word that strikes me when I read this topic statement is suboptimize.  When we limit our boundaries, we can miss key variables that might have a significant impact on our intended results.  When we stretch our definition of a value stream from supplier to customer, we might notice something that we take for granted.  I have so many stories to share about how this shift in my own perspective uncovered the source of disruption in the process my team and I were addressing. 

There is a tool that I would encourage you to explore that might help with this exercise.  The SIPOC tool is a mapping tool that attempts to uncover these gaps in knowledge and communication.  SIPOC – supplier, input, process, output, customer – challenges us to identify every possible supplier and their input to our process as well as every customer and the output they are receiving from our process.

When my team and I were frustrated by the inconsistency in quality and cost from our supple base, we used this tool to identify a key variable that we had taken for granted.  Reading our prints was difficult.  When we inquired with our suppliers how they interpreted certain elements of our prints we discovered the gap.  When we offered training in interpreting our drawings, the variation in quality and cost began to disappear.

From Supplier to Customer

One team evaluated the vast quantity of reports being created and distributed every week.  At the plant site where this project was conducted the number was 1200.  When we embarked on validating the use of the reports, we were able to reduce that number to 400.  For some of the reports, we no longer had customers wanting the information to be found in the report.   

Do our suppliers know what is needed from the inputs for perfect process performance?  Do you understand the critical performance characteristics for your customers’ processes?  This is not about operating out of assumption, this is about communication, understanding, and reaching agreement.  This is the only way to clear the way for welcome accountability. 

Questions For Your Consideration

Choose a process.  What makes a perfect process input?

Choose a customer.  What do they need from you to execute their work flawlessly?

How often do inputs and outputs change?

What causes them to change?

How well are changes communicated to your suppliers?

How well are changes communicated from your customers?

More OpEx 4 OpEx