Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1357726
APRIL 2021 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 21 ing a supply chain manager, but what sort of advice would you have for a current supply chain manager to strengthen their skills? What should they be considering for training and such? Rodgers: My guess is that most of them don't really understand where cost comes from. ey may be really good price negotiators, but it's better if you can understand where price and cost come from and how that contributes to production cost. I'm guessing, because so many suppliers focus on labor, they have no idea how much it costs to produce the compo- nents that they're selling. ey put a price on it based on market conditions, and it has very little to do with how much it actually costs. Spending time on this will make them more effective negotiators. I would encourage them to learn more about quality. It's a hidden cost that most in pur- chasing and supply chain management don't understand. All they know is how much they pay. ey're measured—this isn't their fault— in most cases based on how much they pay for those components and how much they can take out of that price. ey're not measured on the influence that those components have on downstream quality. I think they should be. Matties: If your supply chain manager under- stands that these components you're buying from supplier A have to go through incoming Rodgers: e folks at Colorado State Univer- sity have a pretty strong supply chain program, and the University of Colorado Boulder has a Master's in Supply Chain Management that's becoming very popular. ey're both pretty influential as far as the Rocky Mountain region is concerned, at least. I think our nearest neighbors with a strong supply chain program is Arizona State. ere's a lot of communica- tion among us. We host conferences, and we get together, not just with academia, but those who actually work in supply chain. ere's a good dialogue going on. Matties: You bring up a good point: Oen, we hear about the influencer vs. the purchas- ing manager, saying "I don't have any control. It goes to purchasing and they decide." But you're saying they need to be talking about the engineers, and the engineers need to come in and talk to the purchasing managers as well. Rodgers: I agree, 1,000%. It's got to be a coop- eration. Imagine if I were senior management at one of these companies, and I found out that I had engineers who wanted to do some- thing really cool; they're able to produce a new product that we could sell at a premium, but somebody in supply chain put the kibosh on that because it didn't use their existing supply chain, or it was going to cost too much money. I would be furious. Matties: Maybe the supply chain manager needs to sit in on engineering meetings on a regular basis. Rodgers: Yes, absolutely! Matties: And possibly some leadership meet- ings to understand where the company is headed. Rodgers: I agree. Matties: We talked about the qualities of hir- I'm guessing, because so many suppliers focus on labor, they have no idea how much it costs to produce the components that they're selling.