Bob_M said:
Sorry I can't provide specific details about THIS type of supplier meeting, but...
When ever our company is invited to a presentation by one of our customers it typically goes something like this:
Welcome and thanks for coming, you're a valued supplier.
We're trimming the fat and you are one of our core suppliers now.
SO...
Sell us products cheaper by X% each year or else...
At least that's been our company's general experience.
(No I luckily have not been on one of those trips personally).
Is this how most BIG COMPANY "invite the supplier" meetings go?
Well, Bob, I have been to a "Supplier Quality" meeting a few years ago, at a company everyone who has a TV would recognize, but will remain nameless, to protect the clueless.
Why this happens, I don't know, but most of the companies sent their SALES guys to this event. To make matters even more interesting, they broke us up into focus groups, each group having one question (read, beat on suppliers topic) to discuss. Ours was why 65 - 70% of all incoming raw materials were out of spec. Oh, boy.
Well, being the big mouth that I am, I immediately asked about test instrumentation and test methods, upon which we discovered that a "snitch" from the hosting company was amoung us. I was not surprised when she gave me a blank expression, then said that was not taken into account. All of that testing, by outside labs, and basic questions about what was measured and how it was done had not been asked. Then, one of the visiting sales guys (the suit, shoes etc., etc.) said that if we follow the ASTM test method, then equipment, etc. won't matter. I refrained from throwing anything at him. I really didn't make much of a comment at all after that.
Dinner was nice. Otherwise, a complete waste of time.
(for those of yhou not familiar with ASTM test methods, they usually offer LOTS of leeway, and are designed by committee. They almost always have to be intrepreted to match the equipment, lab tech training, conditions, etc.)
