Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Komal Kumar Singh, Supply Chain Expert

Have you ever heard a supplier complain about being unable to locate the correct point of contact or who to contact for specific information in a worldwide corporation with a matrix structure?

Have you ever heard procurement talk about a supplier who always seems to know more about what’s going on in your company than you do?

The company spends extensively in digitization and other procurement initiatives to streamline procurement. When procurement team from each site/facility approach a supplier, the procurement process and communication become unnecessarily complicated. Any payment or invoice issue just adds to Supplier’s dissatisfaction.

It is not just restricted to Purchase-to-Pay (P2P), but it also adds variation to day-to-day communication and processes such as forecasting, open order evaluation, and sharing any internal information.

Internal customers such as Quality, Planning, Finance, and Engineering find it difficult to locate procurement personnel to whom they should turn if they require information from a specific supplier.

Consider the procurement team, which is not plant/site specific, but supplier specific. Allow your single buyer to handle procurement from a specific supplier or set of suppliers for all of your global sites/plants.

What impact will it have?

• Suppliers will have a single point of contact to get answers to all of their questions. It will improve communication and relationships with suppliers.
• Procurement, which connects suppliers and internal customers such as quality, planning, finance, and engineering, will be a single source for all information.
• There will be a single point of contact for the Company who will have all information about a certain supplier, whether it is supplier’s performance, supplier’s capacity, or future growth potential.
• The supplier will receive all communication, such as business insider, forecast, and organizational change information, from a single source.

Companies are diversifying their product portfolios, adding new verticals, and attempting to connect all verticals through matrix organization. It makes it more difficult for the supplier to find right point of contact.

To improve working communication with the outside world, One Voice Procurement (OVP) is an excellent concept. Before beginning OVP, it is critical to familiarize this concept throughout your organization, build confidence, and begin implementation.

Profile of Komal Kumar Singh

I have almost two decades of expertise in the business. I serve on committees for the API (American Petroleum Institute) and SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers). I enjoy sharing and talking about Global supply Chain, current issues and mitigation strategy.

Proven accomplishments and professional experiences across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe. Extensive knowledge and expertise in Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, Product Cost Reduction, Make/Buy strategy, and green-field Manufacturing Plant development. Led cost optimization workshops at 60+ manufacturing sites in US, Europe, Australia and Asia. Delivered strong and sustainable results for Baker Hughes, GE, Tyco and Ingersoll Rand. Visited more than 25 countries for product/process/technology transfer to optimize product cost, exceed local content requirements, improve profitability, and increase global market share. Worked and lived in India, Singapore & USA. Current location: Houston, USA.

Name: Komal Kumar Singh
E Mail: komal_si@hotmail.com
Mobile / WhatsApp’s: +1 346 901 1007
Current Location: Texas, USA
Graduation in Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore University