Why sourcing teams spend too much time chasing information before development moves forward
For years, brands have invested in systems that help manage execution. Yet many of the delays, iterations and sourcing challenges they experience are created long before execution begins.
The issue is not a lack of expertise. The teams responsible for sourcing and product development are highly skilled at what they do. They understand materials, suppliers, feasibility requirements, compliance obligations, costing implications and product specifications.
Yet despite that expertise, a surprising amount of time is still spent chasing information. Sourcing teams spend too much time chasing information because the information required to make sourcing decisions is fragmented across suppliers, systems and workflows before development moves forward.
Not because the information does not exist, but because it is often spread across emails, spreadsheets, supplier conversations, documents and disconnected workflows.
Why sourcing teams spend so much time gathering information
Before development moves forward, teams need answers to critical questions:
- Which suppliers are capable of meeting the requirements?
- Are there better material or component options available?
- What are the cost implications?
- Are compliance requirements met?
- What sourcing risks need to be addressed?
- Which alternatives should be considered?
Finding those answers often requires coordination across multiple stakeholders, suppliers and systems.
As requirements evolve and sourcing decisions move forward, context becomes fragmented. Different teams hold different pieces of information. Suppliers contribute inputs at different stages. Validation happens across multiple conversations.
The result is that skilled teams spend valuable time gathering information rather than acting on it.
The challenge before information reaches PLM
This challenge is particularly visible before information reaches systems of record such as PLM. By the time a final material, supplier or sourcing decision is entered into a system, much of the work has already happened elsewhere. Discussions have taken place. Options have been reviewed. Trade-offs have been evaluated. Risks have been assessed.
But the process leading to those decisions is often difficult to see and even harder to manage. As product complexity continues to increase, teams are being asked to make more decisions across more suppliers, materials and requirements than ever before.
Structuring sourcing decisions earlier
The solution is not simply adding more information or another repository for documents. The real opportunity is to structure sourcing decisions earlier in the process.
When supplier inputs, material options, costing considerations, compliance requirements and sourcing decisions are brought together earlier, teams gain better visibility into their options and can validate decisions before development moves too far forward.
Instead of spending time gathering information from suppliers, searching through documents and coordinating across disconnected workflows, teams can focus on validating options, aligning sourcing decisions and moving development forward.
The companies that solve this challenge will enable their teams to spend less time coordinating information and more time moving development forward.
Structuring sourcing decisions earlier gives teams better visibility into supplier inputs, material options, costs, feasibility and compliance requirements before development progresses.
See how brands and suppliers are validating sourcing decisions earlier with Material Exchange.