Best Practices DOD Can Help Suppliers Contribute More to Weapon System Programs.
Abstract
Leading commercial companies have found that more cooperative business relationships with suppliers have improved their ability to respond to changing business conditions. Such relationships have led to lower costs and have translated into higher quality, greater productivity, and shorter product design and delivery times. The Department of Defense (DOD) also faces difficult business conditions in that it must find ways to modernize its weaponry more economically, for it continues to state a need to modernize weapons at a faster pace. DOD has an opportunity to incorporate best supplier practices into the process it uses to acquire weapon systems. Specifically, this report (1) identifies best commercial practices for establishing, managing, and sustaining excellent supplier relationships and (2) compares these practices with those of DOD, selected prime contractors, and the supplier teams on two weapon system programs. The term "supplier" refers to a firm that provides goods or services that comprise part of a final product being made by another firm. On a complex product such as an aircraft or a weapon system, suppliers can number in the thousands and &e categorized into different levels or tiers. For example, on a military aircraft program, the firm responsible for putting the complete aircraft together and delivering it tothe final customer-is referred to as the prime contractor. The firms that supply components or services to the prime contractor comprise the first tier of suppliers. Firms that supply products to the first tier constitute the second tier of suppliers. The tiers continue until the products being supplied reach an elemental level, such as raw materials, rivets, and bolts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA339728
Entities
People
- Katherine V. Schinasi
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office