Supply Excellence — Live from LIVE: Sonoco’s SPM Advice

Live from LIVE: Sonoco’s SPM Advice

June 17th, 2008 · by Justin Fogarty · No Comments · AribaLIVE, best practices, enviro/social sustainability, supply management

Sonoco’s Supply Systems Manager, Jennifer Roberts, gave an interesting talk on their Supplier Performance Management (SPM) efforts at Ariba LIVE in Brussels last week. Her team has led Sonoco’s efforts to move off of static Excel spreadsheets and to a more automated and far reaching approach. Ultimately, they want to bring every “critical” supplier into the program, which includes 800 of their 17k vendors and about 80% of their spend.

Jennifer also made two points that I think illustrate some trends we’re likely to see around SPM in coming years:

Anticipation: Like many companies, Sonoco is looking at ways to promote sustainability in their supply chain and operations. And given that procurement is increasingly leading efforts to manage risk to the company brand, they will counted on to ensure that the supply chain meets the company’s stated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals. Like many companies, Sonoco is still grappling with exactly what and how to measure ’sustainability’ effectively on a global scale across their supply chain. But Jennifer said it is a high priority for the company and one she’ll rely on SPM to accomplish.
Collaboration: Uninterested in reinventing the wheel, Jennifer tapped her contacts in other companies for input on what to track in their SPM program. And according to Jennifer, everyone was extremely willing to lend a hand. As procurement moves into less-chartered waters, like risk management and sustainability, collaboration and sharing of best practices - among competitors and across industries - will help everyone move forward. And when you consider how this spirit of collaboration could extend to sharing information about suppliers themselves, it opens up a whole new opportunity. All boats could rise … if everyone is willing to pitch in.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence and is providing coverage from Ariba LIVE 2008 Europe in Brussels. Any feedback or questions about the event or blog can be directed to Justin at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.

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