OEM Procurement Partner Program Offers Co-Sourcing Collaboration

Compiled ByDeborah Austin Rebounding from 2001's slowdown with plans for newly boosted outsourcing, electronics OEMs now face another challenge, suggests procurement specialist IC Solutions. Many tier-two and tier-three manufacturers -- grappling with reduced resources and the ever-more-crucial role of procurement -- aren't prepared to handle the shift. IC Solutions -- Aliso Viejo, Calif. -- aims to address this challenge with its new P2 Procurement Partner program, a co-sourcing approach to help OEM manufacturers speed time-to-market, increase liquidity and shrink operating costs. In the program, an OEM joins with an IC Solutions P2 partnership team, matched functionally with the OEM's in-house procurement staff. The P2 team then becomes an extension of the in-house department, supplying such services as co-sourced procurement, collaborative systems, constrained product management, excess materials management, and market intelligence/forecasting.