Supply Chain Development within Volvo Penta Chain - Development through Supplier Relationship Improvement

Abstract: In today global business market, concepts are moving towards inter-national and inter-firm in contrary to older days. This has made companies explore ways to leverage their supply chains, and to evaluate the role of suppliers in their activities. One result has been the increased outsourcing of activities and performance. This has heightened the role of suppliers ever more.Consequently, in order to maintain competitive in the market and to be able to satisfy the knowledgeable end customer, suppliers must be completely aligned with the core company and its objectives and performances. This goal is only gained through strategic benchmarking towards Supplier Development.With a large number of suppliers to deal with, it won’t be feasible to have partnership relationship with each. The strategic approach is to classify them in a manner suitable for the company and only then start from top of the list setting goals for the most prioritized.Before making any attempt in Supplier Relationship Development, the company must start from within setting the right mindset from top down, inside its own ground. Only then Supplier development will be aligned with the objectives of the company and the program will be integrated and successful.This research sought after ways to develop a strategic and systematic method of dealing with suppliers. This guideline was classified as a step by step map of a Supplier Development program. The study was conducted for Volvo Penta Vara Company, and as part of its Supply Chain Development Program. The findings from the company and literature were compared and analyzed and finally guidelines were developed.This report is the last part of the master’s studies in Industrial Engineering-Logistics at University of Borås. It gave us the opportunity to use what we had learnt during the programme. Considering the broadness of the subject we were after, this report meant a lot of work. However, this was the challenge we wanted and an intriguing journey where we learned a lot along the way.