Supplier development: From supplier to strategic partner
Supplier development is the key to stable, resilient supply chains and sustainable competitive advantages.
With SC-Manager, you can transform your supplier relationships from a pure procurement function to a strategic partnership.
Our software supports you in the systematic planning, implementation and monitoring of development measures and audits – supplemented by intelligent AI analyses and an intuitive traffic light system.
Why strategic supplier development is essential
In a globalized and volatile economy, it is no longer enough to simply select and evaluate suppliers. Companies must actively invest in the performance of their partners.
Targeted supplier development aims to systematically identify weaknesses and eliminate them through cooperative measures. The German Association of Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME ) sees supplier development as one of the key success factors in modern strategic purchasing.
This not only leads to a significant increase in product and service quality, but also reduces procurement costs(total cost of ownership) in the long term.
In addition, you minimize risks in the supply chain, as is also central to our Risk & Compliance Management, and promote your company’s innovative strength through the close transfer of expertise with your strategic partners. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material flow and Logistics (IML) also emphasizes in its studies that resilient supply chains require active supplier development as a basic prerequisite.
The AI-supported SC-Agent: your partner for supplier development
Supplier development requires precise analysis of large volumes of data from various sources. This is where our intelligent SC-Agent comes into play. The integrated artificial intelligence continuously analyzes the performance data of your suppliers, evaluates risks and proactively identifies development potential. You can find out more about this in our blog post on supplier development.
Communicative AI for in-depth insights
With the SC agent, you can interact with your data in natural language. Ask complex questions such as:
Which suppliers in the field of electronic components have shown a decline in delivery reliability in the last three months and require development measures?
Show me all suppliers who have performed poorly in the last sustainability (ESG) audits.
What are the strategic implications of a delivery failure at our main supplier of raw materials and what alternatives can we develop?
The SC-Agent immediately provides you with well-founded, graphically prepared answers and suggests concrete measures for supplier development. This allows you to transform data into strategic options for action, supported by our module for key figures & reporting.
Interactive dashboards and the traffic light system
The results of supplier development and audits are visualized in clear, interactive dashboards. These dashboards offer you a 360° view of the performance and development status of your suppliers.
Proactive control with the traffic light system
A central element of our dashboards is the intuitive traffic light system. The SC-Agent continuously evaluates the progress of the agreed measures and compliance with quality standards based on the results of the supplier assessment.
In the event of deviations or delays, the traffic light automatically switches to yellow or red. This allows you to immediately recognize where action is needed and proactively intervene before problems escalate. A click on the red traffic light takes you directly to the cause and enables you to react quickly.
Comprehensive measures management and audits
Supplier development in SC-Manager is based on two central pillars: structured action management and the systematic implementation of audits.
Measures and tasks
The SC Manager has a powerful task management system for the targeted and methodical development of your supplier relationships. Here you can create and distribute tasks and monitor their processing. The Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon defines supplier development as all of a company’s activities aimed at increasing the performance of its suppliers – which is exactly what our action management system digitally maps.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Task creation | Define deadlines, priorities, responsible persons and the current status. |
| Documentation | Attach relevant documents and images directly to the tasks. |
| Responsibilities | Assign internal and external supplier managers. |
| Automation | Use automatic e-mail notifications for deadlines and status changes. |
| Supplier portal | Enable direct processing by suppliers in the supplier portal. |
| Overview | Maintain an overview for purchasing in the supplier manager. |
| Traffic light system | Use task dashboards with a traffic light system for status and deadlines. |
| Linking | Link measures with risk and evaluation criteria as well as audit results. |
Audits
The SC Manager enables the efficient management of audits and the resulting measures for supplier development. Detailed information on the process can be found in our blog post on supplier audits. For companies in the automotive industry, SC-Manager also supports the requirements of the VDA 6.3 standard, the most important process audit standard in the industry. In addition, audits in accordance with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 can be planned and documented completely digitally.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Audit planning | Plan audits with responsible persons, type, scheduling and status. |
| Documentation | Attach relevant documents and images directly to the tasks. |
| Responsibilities | Attach documents and images and store audit reports. |
| Automation | Use automatic e-mail notifications. |
| Task planning | Link audits directly to task planning. |
| Supplier portal | Enable suppliers to process tasks in the supplier portal. |
| Overview | Maintain an overview for those responsible for the audit in the supplier manager |
| Traffic light system | Use audit dashboards with a traffic light system for status and deadlines. |
Active vs. passive supplier development
Supplier development can be divided into two main strategies, which are applied depending on the type of supplier and strategic importance. The SC-Manager optimally supports both approaches. The specialist portal QZ-online.de distinguishes between reactive measures (passive) and proactive partnership models (active) – a difference that is also consistently implemented in the SC-Manager.
Kontrolle und Kommunikation von Erwartungen
Partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und gemeinsames Wachstum
Audits, Qualitätsprüfungen, Leistungskennzahlen (KPIs)
Gemeinsame Workshops, Schulungen, Personalaustausch
Gering bis mittel
Hoch: Zeit und Personal
Standardlieferanten, C-Teile-Lieferanten
Strategische Partner, A-Lieferanten, Innovationspartner
Automatisierte Scorecards, Audit-Verwaltung, Ampelsystem
Gemeinsames Maßnahmenmanagement, Dokumentenaustausch im Portal
By combining both approaches in SC-Manager, you can deploy your resources efficiently and maximize the performance of your entire supplier base at the same time. Compliance-relevant requirements – in particular from the German Supply Chain Management Act (LkSG) – are automatically integrated into action planning. TÜV SÜD also recommends a structured, software-supported approach to supplier development in order to meet quality and compliance requirements in the long term.
FAQs: Frequently asked questions
Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about supplier management software
What is the main objective of supplier development?
The main objective of supplier development is the systematic and continuous improvement of supplier performance. This includes increasing product quality, improving delivery reliability, reducing the total cost of ownership and minimizing risks in the supply chain. Ultimately, the aim is to turn pure suppliers into strategic partners.
How does the SC Manager support supplier development?
The SC-Manager offers a central, digital system for the entire action management and audit administration. It enables the structured planning, assignment and monitoring of tasks, integrates suppliers directly into the process via a portal and visualizes progress using interactive dashboards and an intuitive traffic light system. The AI-supported SC-Agent also supports data analysis and risk detection.
What is the difference between active and passive supplier development?
Passive supplier development focuses on the clear communication of expectations and the monitoring of performance using defined standards (e.g. through audits and KPIs). Active supplier development, on the other hand, is characterized by intensive cooperation based on partnership, such as joint workshops, training or process optimization on site at the supplier’s premises.
Can suppliers be directly involved in the development process?
Yes, that is a key advantage of the SC Manager. Suppliers can use the integrated supplier portal to directly access the measures and tasks assigned to them, upload documents, update status reports and communicate with Purchasing. This significantly reduces the amount of coordination required via email and creates a single source of truth.
How does the traffic light system work when tracking measures?
The traffic light system in the SC Manager continuously monitors the status and deadlines of all defined tasks. If tasks are on schedule, the traffic light is green. If delays are imminent, it changes to yellow. If deadlines are exceeded or critical quality deviations are detected, the traffic light switches to red and proactively alerts the responsible employees.
What role do audits play in supplier development?
Audits are an indispensable tool for objectively assessing the current status of a supplier and uncovering potential for improvement. They often form the starting point for targeted development measures. The SC-Manager enables the complete digital planning, execution and documentation of audits and links the results directly to action management.
Is the software also suitable for smaller companies?
Yes, the SC-Manager has a modular structure and scales with your requirements. You can start with the basic functions for action management and expand the system later to include complex audit functions or AI analyses. The intuitive operation also ensures quick familiarization, even without a large IT department.
How secure is the data in the SC-Manager?
Data security has the highest priority. The SC-Manager is a TÜV-IT-certified application and is hosted in an ISO-27001-certified data center in Germany. All data transmissions are encrypted, and a detailed role and authorization system ensures that each user (including external suppliers) can only see and edit the data for which they are authorized.
Can the SC-Manager be connected to our existing ERP system?
a, the SC-Manager has flexible interfaces and can be seamlessly connected to common ERP systems (such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, proALPHA). This enables automated data exchange and ensures that your supplier development is based on a consistent, up-to-date database.
How does AI (SC-Agent) help with supplier development?
The AI-supported SC agent analyzes large amounts of data from various sources (ERP, audits, external risk data) and identifies patterns and anomalies. You can interact with the agent in natural language and ask complex questions. The AI not only provides answers, but also proactively suggests measures to minimize risks and improve supplier performance.
Now we would like to give you the answers to the most important questions about us and our solution:
What is Simmeth's SC manager?
ERP systems primarily map transactional processes such as orders or invoices. Topics such as supplier onboarding, risk management, compliance, evaluation or supplier development are usually only possible to a limited extent. The SC Manager supplements existing ERP systems at precisely this point and creates a central platform for all non-transactional supplier processes.
Why is the SC-Manager a useful addition to ERP systems?
ERP systems are primarily designed for processing transactions, such as orders, invoices or bookings. However, actual supplier management goes much further. It includes topics such as onboarding, qualification, risk assessment, compliance, supplier development and collaboration. These processes are usually mapped only rudimentarily or not at all in ERP and require specialized functions such as those offered by dedicated supplier management software.
What specific problems does the SC Manager solve?
The SC Manager solves typical challenges such as distributed supplier data, manual Excel maintenance, high onboarding costs and a lack of transparency regarding risks and compliance. All relevant information is brought together in a structured manner, processes are standardized and decisions can be made on the basis of reliable data.
How does the SC Manager support supplier onboarding?
With the SC-Manager, onboarding is digital and structured. Suppliers maintain their data themselves via a portal, upload documents and answer questionnaires. The SC-Manager automatically checks the completeness and consistency of the information and ensures that clean, usable supplier data is available right from the start.
What role does AI play in SC-Manager?
The SC Manager includes integrated AI support in the form of the SC Agent. The SC Agent collects information from internal and external sources, structures it and supports users with analysis and evaluation. For example, automated supplier profiles and risk reports are created in just a few minutes instead of hours of manual research.
What distinguishes the SC-Agent from classic analysis tools?
The SC-Agent is not an isolated tool, but is directly integrated into the SC-Manager. It works contextually with the existing supplier data, supplements it with external information and makes the results immediately usable. Users can also interact with their supplier database via chat and carry out targeted analyses without the need for reports or IT queries.
How does the SC Manager support risk management?
The SC Manager offers structured risk management with scorecards, traffic light systems and early warning mechanisms. The SC Agent supplements this assessment with automated AI risk reports that analyze external information and provide additional risk information. This creates a comprehensive, up-to-date risk profile for each supplier.
Is the SC-Manager suitable for LkSG, ESG and other EU requirements?
Yes, the SC Manager supports companies in fulfilling regulatory requirements such as LkSG or ESG. Self-disclosures, certificates, risk assessments and measures are centrally recorded, documented and stored in an audit-proof manner. Reports can be created in a comprehensible manner at any time.
How time-consuming is the introduction of the SC-Manager?
The SC-Manager is a SaaS solution and can be introduced step by step. Many companies start with a clearly defined use case such as onboarding or risk management. Existing systems such as ERP, PLM or QMS can be connected without the need for extensive IT projects.
For which companies is the SC-Manager particularly suitable?
SC-Manager is particularly suitable for companies with complex supply chains, many suppliers and high quality, risk and compliance requirements. Typical users are medium-sized and large companies in mechanical engineering, the automotive supply industry, medical technology and technology-intensive industries.
Would you like to find out more about Simmeth System and our SC-Manager solution? Contact our team directly: