NIT’s procurement team holds active communication with the core of our operations – the network of suppliers and subcontractors. This winter, we conducted in-depth SRM (Supplier Resource Management) questionnaires and interviews within the supplier network. The target of these interactions was to develop the collaboration, together with the suppliers, and to receive their feedback in order to develop our operations.
Key topics discovered:
- General trust and positive views for future markets
- Economic views are good, investments and digital leaps have been made
- Expectations towards NIT are high for professional collaboration
- Rating for cooperation with NIT is on a good level
- Concrete points for development: to improve information flow, enhance topics of early involvement
SRM interviews covered topics of sustainability, challenges and opportunities, development initiatives, future views and general feedback for operations, all of which we received valuable information for.
“For the collaboration with NIT we received very good results and I am happy to see that,” says Procurement Director Tommi Immaisi. “It means that we are doing the right things.”
Sustainability was taken in as separate topics for the questionnaire. Suppliers showed some interest in developing their environmental sustainability topics, but as the requirements or benchmarks are not always clear, it was seen to slow them down. Companies strive for focus points in these matters. On the social sustainability side, strong HSE topics and voluntary benefits for employee well-being were noticed.
The industry is looking positively into the future with the good order book in Europe. Topics of uncertainty of course also arose with cost pressure, inflation and world situation, that all affect the industry and networks deeply.
“In challenging times, we have to work together and search for the solution, finding a positive outcome for every party,” Immaisi describes.
In SRM interviews we were also acquiring feedback for the collaboration between NIT and supplier network. 80% of the respondents rated the cooperation being “good” or “very good”. It was seen that suppliers appreciate the low bureaucracy, honesty and direct communication.
“Suppliers feel that they can trust NIT’s expertise. The general feeling was that things can and will be solved,” Immaisi highlights.
While the trust in NIT is surely growing, so are the expectations. Suppliers are committed to long term collaboration, and their willingness to grow can be seen with various investments in machinery and digitalization as well as personnel. Valuable feedback and actual development topics were discovered through the open conversation.
“With the SRM reviews we identified important development topics, like enhancing information flow and involvement,” Immaisi says. Early interaction was requested and the importance of sharing information and schedules were noted in order to help suppliers enable and predict capacity. “We received some concrete ideas for developing our processes even further.”