Different critical material groups led to different evaluation norms

As the critical material groups of Company X have been defined, see chapter 5.1, and the self-assessment model has been explained, this chapter will elaborate how the supplier’s results will be evaluated. As mentioned in chapter 5.2 a percentage is calculated for each of the five subjects if the supplier has filled in the self-assessment. There is also a norm

established for each of the five subjects, which is the minimum level a supplier has to achieve. If the supplier achieves the norm on all of the five subjects the supplier is considered as not risky and no further action is needed. If the supplier does not achieve the norm on one or more

of the subjects, this indicates that there is a certain level of risk discovered. Therefore, follow up actions can be considered, which are further explained in chapter 5.4.

Different norms, the so called supplier profiles, have been defined for the different critical material groups of Company X which are stated in chapter 5.1. This has been done, because for a supplier in material group A, a subject can be more important than for a supplier in material group B. For instance, the norm of environment and safety is higher for the

suppliers in the material group lubricants and oils than for the suppliers in the material group pallets and cases. The environmental and safety subject is considered as an important aspect for lubricants and oils suppliers, because they work with more dangerous materials than suppliers of pallets and cases do. So for each of the critical material group a different supplier profile has been established.

These supplier profiles have been established in collaboration with employees of Company X, the so called focus groups. In chapter 3.2.3 it is already mentioned that focus groups were used within this research. For each of the critical material groups employees were invited to form a group. As mentioned in chapter 3.2.3 these respondents could be seen as experts in the particular material group, as they are working with the products/services the suppliers are delivering and should have the most knowhow of it within the company. Table 8 shows the participants for each of the critical material groups.

Focus group Participants

Pallets and cases Tubes

Coordinator Planning Supply Chain Coordinator Team Leader Packaging Quality Assurance Manager Rolls

Lubricant and oils

Manager Production Support

Manager Maintenance & Engineering Process Instructor Annealing

Quality Assurance Manager

Casting Casting Specialist

Casting Specialist Knives and cutting blades Process Engineer

Mechanical services Measurement Equipment Engineer

Table 8. Focus groups.

Source: Table invented by the author.

The participants have been chosen based on their function and, as already mentioned, based on their expertise in the respective material group. The focus groups have been invited to a meeting with the project owner and the procurement manager. Beforehand, the

participants have been informed about the purpose of the meeting and the self-assessment model has been sent to the participants, so the participants could go through it and prepare themselves. This has been done, so the participants know on which subjects the supplier will be evaluated on and which questions were asked. Some participants have filled in the self- assessment with the scores they wanted the supplier to score, so an end score was calculated and could be discussed. This was finally beneficial for the efficiency and quality of the meetings. During the meeting the five subjects of the self-assessment model have been

discussed and the participants gave their opinion about how important each of the five subjects in their material group is. Based on this information the project owner made notes for each of the critical material groups. In these notes for each of the five subjects the level of importance was mentioned. With this information in mind and the notes as backup the project owner established the final norm for each of the seven critical material groups. This has been done by filling in all the questions in the self-assessment, which leaded to a percentage score for each of the five subjects. The percentages which were given in the self-assessment were the norm for the respective critical material group. Both the notes and the filled in self-assessment has been send to the respondents of the focus groups. The respondents were asked to check whether the strategy and the norm out of the filled in self-assessment were correct. If not, the respondents provided their comments to the project owner. So based on this approach the norms for the different critical material groups, the supplier profiles, are created and implemented in the self-assessment model.

During the meeting with the respondent for the critical material group mechanical services, it appears that the self-assessment did not completely fit this group. The self- assessment is more focused on suppliers who are providing products or components.

Therefore, the decision has been made to develop a self-assessment specially for the critical material group mechanical services. The design of the self-assessment did not change, even as the five subjects. Only the questions within these five subjects have been adjusted, so it would fit the circumstances of mechanical service suppliers.

5.4 Self-assessment model part of the new supplier management process of