HKSTP TecONE Seminar on Empower Your Business with Reliable Supply Chain

The TecONE seminar entitled “Empower Your Business with Reliable Supply Chain” was organized by Hong Kong science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) with Strategic Partner – The Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) on 5^th Oct 2016.  A reliable supply chain is increasingly important nowadays in developing brand and sustaining business.  Ir. Raymond Wong (Adjunct Professor, OUHK) was invited to share his 40 years professional experience in industry and public utilities on how to identify and understand the supply chain threats and the best practice on managing the supply chain.  Before the seminar, I took a photo with Ir. Raymond Wong and Ms. HO Shui-lin, Lynn (Assistant Secretary-General (T&C), HKCTC). 

In the beginning, Ms. Ho introduced HKCTC history and its missions.  HKCTC had established by government since September 2009 and Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) provided secretariat support.  HKCTC terms of reference were to advise the Chief Executive on the followings item:

-     The overall development strategy of the industry;

-      New business opportunities worth exploring for the industry, having regard to latest developments in the Mainland and overseas markets; and

-      Measures needed to raise the professional standing and community awareness of the industry.

Ir. Raymond Wong (Adjunct Professor, OUHK) was our guest speaker and his topic named “Empower Your Business with Reliable Supply Chain”.  He said he would like to share the 3^rd party point of view on supply chain.  Since he worked in TIC industry, he had contacted retailers and manufacturers that had many different suppliers.  Firstly, he pointed out some challenges in supply chain included “Cost Reduction Pressure”, “Sustainable Quality Improvement”, “Deploy Resources in Core Business”, “Tougher COMPLIANCE Requirements”, “Claim or Recall caused by Product Failure”, and “Inadequate Expertise or Resources in Managing Suppliers”.  Raymond said “Quality is a moving target.” The requirement is tighter and tighter.  As the 3^rd party, we needed to give professor view in your report that was not bias on either supplier or organization (e.g. manufacturer/government).

And then he shared some observation on supplier management excellence as follows:

i)       Effective Supplier Selection Mechanism

-     It included Demand & Market Analysis, Supplier Pre-selection & Qualification, Request for Quotation and Negotiation.  One of important questions was “How to build up the trust?”

ii)       Supplier Performance Monitoring Mechanism

-          It included Supplier Audit and Auditor Requirement

iii)     Crisis Management Mechanism

-      Product Failure Control, Recurrence Avoidance, as well as, PR & External Communication should be considered.

iv)      Supplier Improvement Mechanism

-          Factors to trigger Supplier Improvement (e.g. Cost reduction and Efficiency enhancement) were concerned.

He then added Safety is never compromised!

After that he pointed out some benefit of Supplier Quality Plan below:

-          Create a Reliable and Sustainable Supply Chain

-          Cost Reduction by Operational Efficiency Optimiation

-          Waste and Lead Time Reduction

-          Reduce Product Failure and Failure Cost

-          Brand Protection

-         Reduce Risk in Regulatory Compliance, Product Failure, Market Withdrawal, Supply Disruption

Then he demonstrated the typical food supply chain as an example.

Raymond shared the 6S of Supplier Quality Plan

1.      Standardization

2.      Sustainability

3.      Selection

4.      Sourcing

5.      Structure (e.g. company structure)

6.      Safety

During Q&A, some startup boss asked question such as component testing.  Raymond said some components were not related to safety test but reliability was concerned such as UL program on recognized component.

Reference:

HKSTP - http://www.hkstp.org

TecONE - http://tecone.hkstp.org/t1_web/

HKCTC - http://www.hkctc.gov.hk/en/home.html#