I hope that you have enjoyed the article, “4 Supplier Relationship Management Tactics.”

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One tactic that I wanted to expand upon here is Idea Sourcing & Value Creation. Though it sounds modern, I have to confess that I am far from the leading edge on this.

My first exposure to this was when I went to see a presentation by a PPG purchasing executive in the mid-1990’s. He introduced PPG’s “Supplier Added Value Effort” or $AVE process.

I was totally blown away by what they were doing. Not only were they collaborating with suppliers moreso than anyone else at the time, but they were also using the Internet to collect, route, approve, and track ideas – IN THE MID-1990’S!

You can check out a description of the $AVE process here, but the description alone doesn’t do justice to the fantastic stuff PPG demonstrated that night some 10 or so years ago.