General guidelines
How to act to encourage cooperation and professionalism
Considerations which lend credence and professionalism to the conduct of a supplier visit:
• Appearance - It is important to represent yourself professionally. Be credible.
• Punctuality - Valuable business time is set aside for your visit - respect this.
• Preparedness - Unplanned visits can be exasperating. Preparation is critical to its success. - Know your stuff this includes making sure information from supplier is received before the visit.
• Fairness - Be willing to make allowances for occasional human error. Don't be overly picky.
• Remain Calm - Be prepared for defensive behavior - help the supplier to be at ease
• Polite and Courteous - Be considerate and helpful - Remember "Please and Thank-you“
• Direct and Concise - Pose questions clearly. Misunderstanding and confusion on either side of the audit slows it down.
• Recognize Effort - Give praise and recognition where it is due.
Pitfalls that can threaten the progress of the cost estimation and supplier visit:
• Hostility - remain firm in audit purpose and scope.
• Time wasters - keep audit on track.
• Vagueness - probe for response until sufficient answer is obtained.
• Sympathy - report findings and observations in impersonal manner.
• Hiding problems - don't let this hide serious issues - investigate.
• Where lack of support is evident, explain the benefits of the cost estimation programme (chance for improvement)
• Turn to upper management for resolution of absolute non-support.
Planning is the essential part of effectively performing a cost estimation. Without proper planning, you will not have identified all the items to be evaluated and will probably not be able to complete the visit according to the schedule.
Remember we are trying to find facts, not faults.