Supplier versus partner. Is there a difference? My new role with the start-up client is that of project manager. We are a virtual company with suppliers all over the place. One of my first big tasks has been to understand all the intimate details of the project and its many suppliers. To set the stage, the product is semi complex. There are electronics, custom PCBs, custom plastic components, custom software, and it’s a medical device.
Suppliers for all the various parts and pieces span the country. Some of the suppliers are small, others medium-sized. Some over promised their capabilities and are in over their heads. Others have yet to reach their potential. Let’s just say the past few weeks have been a learning experience (and I’ve managed medical device product development projects for years; I guess I should always learn something).
My favorite cliche has been “We view our organization as more than just a supplier. We feel we are your development partner.” What does that mean? My view of a partner is someone who is in the trenches with me. Someone who is there in good times and roughing it with me in the tough times. Kind of like a marriage, I guess. Can a supplier really be a partner? The interesting thing is when I’ve pressed a couple of our “partners” to help us achieve our milestones by thinking creatively, I get silence.
I think being a partner (at least to a start-up) is difficult and foreign for conventional suppliers. It’s really challenging to be a supplier to a big, well-established organization and a start-up. The rules for working with each have to be different. I don’t know the solution. I just know there is room for improvement. My goal with our suppliers is to develop true partnerships. If you have suggestions for how to do this, let me know: jspeer@creoquality.com.
