SUPPLIER COMPETITIVENESS
ACTIVITIES & INTERVENTIONS

The focus of the Supplier Competitiveness Programme is to develop the KwaZulu-Natal supply base to world class performance levels, encourage transparent relationships and facilitate growth opportunities through a variety of focused interventions.

Activities and interventions run under this programme are as follows:

Development of purchasing skills in support of improving supplier management & competitiveness

• Best practice procurement workshops

These workshops concentrate on subjects that the industry has indicated will be of value to professionals operating in a procurement capacity at DAC member firms. Examples of subjects covered include supplier risk management, supplier development, cost analysis and supplier relationship management

• Specialised automotive purchasing courses

Specialised automotive purchasing courses at both a Certificate (NQF 5) and Diploma (NQF 6) level have been developed in collaboration with the Business Studies Unit at the Durban University of Technology

• Procurement forum

Regular forum meetings allow procurement managers and professionals at member firms an opportunity to exchange ideas and lessons learnt

Facilitation of growth in the industry

• Promotion of a member profile database
• Awareness of supply side-support programmes and incentives

Joint development and auditing of 2nd tier suppliers

• Collaborative relationships in support of supplier development
• A successful pilot has led to the establishment of two groups of four Tier 1 suppliers developing two groups of 20 Tier 2 suppliers, with opportunities for establishing additional such groups being explored
• The intention of the programme is to explore opportunities for cooperative auditing at a later stage

Joint procurement of commodity items

• Establishing cost benchmarks for commodity items & services
• Negotiation of pricing of commodities & services

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

• Special Interest Groups provide support to groups of firms with a common problem. The objective is to identify and implement a solution over the short or medium term
• Examples of previous SIG initiatives include support for ISO 14001 certification and IMDS and ELV Directive compliance

Current members of the Supplier Competitiveness TSC are as follows