Competitiveness Differences and Symbiotic Supply Chain Design Strategies

While manufacturing suppliers may occasionally believe that they are constrained by their quality system and their competitiveness seems in question, the quality system is not the root problem.

While obvious on its face, manufacturing buyers want to save money on their custom machined parts without compromising delivery or quality. However, by buying only on the basis of price, they may rule out the types of suppliers they value. ISO9001 and AS9100 suppliers cannot deliver non-conforming parts without violating their quality management systems.
Most suppliers are experts in their given fields. For example, machine shops know how to make parts easier to machine. Most manufacturing buyers already recognize this and acknowledge that a great deal of waste and cost reduction comes from their suppliers.
Despite procurement realizing the savings, engineering and upper management are not always aware of the benefits of working with suppliers for design optimization (such as with DFMA, or Design For Manufacturability and Assembly). Manufacturing organizations are only somewhat effective at integrating suppliers, collaborating internally on supply chain initiatives, and reducing design waste.
It is recommended that a pilot implementation between a manufacturing buyer organization and a capable supplier be put together to develop best practices and procedures for widespread collaboration, integration, and waste reduction.