Vendor Engagement & Procurement
In an industry with rapidly changing technology and increasingly stringent HSE regulations, a major challenge for pCAM and CAM manufacturers is how to procure new technologies or existing technologies in new battery materials applications.
Meeting this challenge requires the formation of close working relationships with specialised technology and equipment vendors, but many client organisations and their engineering contractors are unused to working this way and are constrained by their internal procurement policies. The results are often poor business outcomes for the customer and frustration and wasted efforts for the vendor.
Newman Eventus have over twenty years’ experience bringing specialist production equipment and new technologies into client organisations and are perfectly placed to ensure your procurement process is fit for purpose, aligns with your business needs, and goes smoothly from initial enquiry to purchase order.
How we can help
Internal procurement policies often place obligations on projects which jeopardise the business outcomes. For example, a requirement to put an engineering contract out to tender can add months to a schedule which some projects cannot afford.
Newman Eventus understand the intent behind procurement policies and what they are designed to prevent and promote. This enables us to identify which parts are relevant in the context of individual projects and business programmes, and to advise senior management on a procurement strategy which is fit for purpose and reduces risk.
When a company is adopting new technologies the need to engage specialist vendors and service providers is obvious, but knowing how to do so is more difficult. It is particularly challenging when you’re unsure of what you require and don’t have a clear scope or even rough costs. This problem is compounded when you have no pre-existing relationships with the suppliers in the field.
Newman Eventus understand the business models and incentives of both client and vendor organisations, and have experience of bringing parties together to form mutually beneficial working relationships. We can support you with a clear, detailed approach which allows you to engage the specialist help you need while protecting you against unreasonable cost exposure and poor service.
Sometimes an established vendor or contractor can stop cooperating or responding to your requests, often without warning, and this is more common than you’d think.
The cause is almost always an incompatibility – either real or perceived – in the respective business objectives of the customer and vendor. Put another way, the vendor has no incentive to continue engaging with the customer because they don’t believe it in their business interests to do so. This could be due to other customers having higher priority, poor experience of the customer on previous contracts, or a misunderstanding of what they’ve been asked to do.
Understanding the causes and motivations behind the vendor’s behaviour is essential to solving the problem, and this requires knowledge and understanding of their organisation and business model as well as your own. Newman Eventus can investigate with discretion and transparency to quickly identify the root causes of the problem and work to rebuild the relationship to the satisfaction of both parties.
We have been described as a Swiss Army knife: not the first choice in some cases, but highly versatile and exactly what you need in certain situations.
