Meaning
The strategic acquisition of parts and materials used in the production of finished goods represents a specialized operational workflow. This activity, known as oem procurement, is characterized by long-term contracts, integrated supply chains, and strict quality requirements. Companies engaging in this process focus on securing consistent supply to prevent any disruption to their assembly lines.
Supply Commitment
Multi-year agreements are standard in this sector to protect both the buyer’s production schedules and the supplier’s investment in capacity. These contracts often feature rolling forecasts and minimum volume commitments that the buyer must purchase. To protect margins, the agreements can also include raw material price adjustment clauses that automatically adjust the component price if commodity prices fluctuate beyond a certain percentage.
This mechanism shares the risk of inflation between the two parties.
Quality Assurance
Suppliers must undergo rigorous audits to ensure they can consistently meet the buyer’s technical standards. Any change in the supplier’s production process must be approved in advance to prevent defects in the final product. This tight integration makes switching suppliers difficult and costly.
Cost Control
Procurement teams use target costing to negotiate component prices that allow the finished good to remain competitive in the market. This pressure drives joint cost-reduction programs where both parties seek to eliminate waste from the production process. The savings from these programs are typically shared between them.