Bridging the Gap Between Engineering, Procurement, and Supply Management

Ensuring smooth and efficient supply chains requires close collaboration between the OEM’s engineering, procurement, and supply management teams. However, this is not how many OEMs operate today. 

Instead, they take a more traditional approach that locks the functional teams into separate silos that do not emphasize collaboration. While isolating these functional teams may have worked in the past, global supply chains today demand a more collaborative, adaptive approach.

Read on to learn how the electronics industry’s supply chains can close the gap using collaborative tools that create a more productive, efficient, and cost-effective future.

Aligning the Goals of Engineering, Procurement, and Supply Management 

Engineered products pass through countless hands and departments – from engineering, on their way to final production and shipment to the customer. Keeping costs under control is a vital goal that all departments focus on. 

Supply management is one of them. It includes five primary functions: purchasing, operations, logistics, resource management, and information workflow. The most profitable OEMs closely monitor strategic sourcing, supply management, and secure supply chain operations.

Of course, there are countless factors beyond the organization’s control. Procurement teams should approach these challenges by working side-by-side with engineering teams to tweak product design and assembly.

While collaboration between the procurement and engineering teams is essential, each team has its own set of objectives and deliverables, which differ from the other company departments. For example, procurement focuses on minimizing the total cost of parts, while engineering is laser-focused on executing the original design without cutting corners. 

Collaboration vs Cooperation

The insistent call for companies to break down their internal silos and encourage collaboration creates a problem with how we define collaboration. In a Harvard Business Review article entitled “There’s a Difference Between Collaboration and Cooperation,” author Ron Ashkenas reveals the underlying issue:

“Having worked with hundreds of managers over the years, I’ve seen that very few admit to being poor collaborators, mostly because they mistake their cooperativeness for being collaborative – but most managers are cooperative, friendly, and willing to share information,” says Ashkenas. “However, they lack the ability and flexibility to align their goals and resources with other departments in real-time.”

In the not-too-distant past, manufacturing design was passed from one team to another, assuming all the pieces would eventually fit. No one was concerned with the final design; they merely cooperated by sharing information. Of course, sharing information alone is not a solution. True collaboration involves the ability for teams to understand the perspective and approach other departments.

How to Bridge the Collaboration Gap Between Your Teams

The good news is that collaboration tools can solve this problem. The bad news is that even the software itself has designs with silo structure in mind. The engineering team must be able to present their point of view to the procurement department so they can understand the logic behind the design and material choices.

This boils down to the BOM for ordering components and supplies. Companies use software such as Microsoft Excel and email tools to collaborate and share BOM spreadsheets. Others leverage tools such as Dropbox to smooth collaboration and become more organized. 

Advancements in software technology for cloud computing, analytics, and platform architectures have recently exposed cracks in these current solutions, resulting in far too many possibilities for error. 

True collaboration is possible by using cloud-based software platforms. This comprehensive BOM management solution ensures the gap between the procurement and engineering teams can be closed.

Harnessing Supplyframe’s Unique and Powerful Features

Supplyframe provides several advanced solutions that allow manufacturing companies to quickly turn BOMs into living documents. These consistently reflect the latest changes made by the team and changes in the market. 

This information is shared with any members of your team that you choose. The software tracks any changes for organizational purposes as well. Complex analytics and real-time pricing/availability can empower your teams to make rational and informed decisions that benefit both cost and quality.

Features like real-time intelligence and our proprietary Risk Rank are crucial for collaboration. Team members will have access to 12 months of market analytics. They will also have unique insight into each component’s inherent risk. 

This instantly removes the obstacles between your teams and bridges the gap between your procurement, engineering, and supply management staff by providing a single solution for all of them to harness for their unique needs, while also enabling them to track changes to the BOM and send messages to other team members within the solution. 

This translates to engineers making better part decisions and a lightweight project management feature that makes it simple for the team to transfer ownership to sourcing when ready. All of this leaves behind a trail of accountability and traceability, so there’s never any question about the changes made to the BOM.

To learn more, visit our Sourcing and Procurement page and discover how Supplyframe enables collaboration across your entire organization.