Launching a CUSTOM
Supplier Management System

Christopher Pang

BAMS 522

Project Background

Vancouver-headquartered contract electronics manufacturer rapidly expanding through acquisitions in US, China and Mexico in recent years

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Project Background

• Lack of strong centralized process for managing suppliers led to loose integration of different supplier management systems
   
• Increasingly large number of 7,000+ common suppliers and inconsistencies across the organization led to frequent external audit failures, putting at risk quality certifications

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Project Goals

• Develop and launch a centralized supplier management system to integrate processes across the enterprise
   
• Build cohesive management and approval workflows for monitoring suppliers using web-based forms and automated re-qualification alerts​

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Project Leadership

• VP Global Supply Chain was
  "project champion" and supportive of using new technologies
   
• Management team also assembled from Supply Chain Leaders, Quality Leaders and Process Leaders from local business units
   
• First researched off-the-shelf products, but later decided to build custom .NET web application to create competitive advantage

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Project MODEL

• Clear goals, but unclear solution as few precedents of custom-built applications within organization
  
  
  
• Development followed iterative process (frequent demos) to ensure goals and solution were aligned 

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Project Outcomes 

• Application launch was successful and project received praise on ease of use and simplicity of new workflows
  
   
• System helped to proactively prepare for audits: less fear of external auditors!

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Project Management

• As news of project leaked, number of additional features were requested, mitigated scope creep by channeling into phase two deployment
   
• Easier to gain cross-enterprise support and resources because leadership consisted of leaders from various local business units and departments
   
• Frequent communication to remove roadblocks and minimize risk of custom software development and process change

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