Intern Readout

Jenna Larkins

• Marquette University, May 2015 
• Operations and Supply Chain Management/International Business
• Cindy Kohli

jenna Larkins

• Strategic sourcing analyst
• Provide support for HMI commodity team
• Learn about commodity: spend,parts, subcommodities
• Stratifying suppliers
• Decreasing spend

Goal 1

Purpose/Deliverables

• Compile supplier baseline data for stratification
• Speak to stakeholders
• Assess capabilities of each supplier

Accomplishments

• Evaluated 49 suppliers, suggested change on 31
• Automated spreadsheet for future use
• Stratification process now 9x faster

How

• Analyzed SAVEs data to learn what each supplier brings RA
• Discussed suppliers' subcommodities with engineers
• Wrote weighted formula in Excel
• Stratified by weighted score from Supply Chain and Tech perspective

lessons learned: Leadership

• Presentation of my findings to manager and others
• Became comfortable asking questions 
• Requested help from new acquaintances

Lessons Learned: skills

• Nested "IF" statements, conditional formatting in Excel
• Communication within commodity team and within other RA divisions
• Deeper commodity understanding--what HMI really is

Goal 2

Purpose/Deliverables

• Negotiate 3% savings across 15 HMI suppliers
• $14,248 of $474,945 spend
• Consolidate one supplier to an existing supplier/distributor

Accomplishments

• Eliminated opportunity for savings from 5 suppliers
• Entering negotiations with 10 suppliers
• Compiled preliminary data to analyze and discuss
• ID 41 parts that have potential for negotiation
• Complete by August 15

How

• Pull part purchase data from SAVEs
• Analyze spend, price, quantity of orders for past few years
• Determine if negotiation is wise
• Call suppliers if appropriate, begin negotiation

Lessons learned: leadership

• How to negotiate prices with suppliers
• Discernment in whether engaging with the supplier is the best tactic
• Independence with a project

Lessons Learned: Skills

• Clear communication both within RA and externally
• Determining why consolidation is a positive
• Improved formatting and analysis in Excel

Questions?