Time Wise SupplyPoint®

> Risk Mitigation Services and Demand Fulfillment

Above: Above: 3-D modeling at SupplyPoint®

Procurement professionals face many challenges to their sourcing needs, including satisfying the Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (SADBU) requirements defined by the Small Business Administration, difficult-to-source parts, insufficient number of manufacturers quoting on solicitations, and original equipment manufacturers who are no longer in business. The small to medium size machine shops have 30-80% open capacity and are poised and ready to fill the demand. Finding capable firms is time consuming, and often requires on-site visits. These machine shops have the capacity and the capability to perform the job, but lack technology and have major barriers with respect to the quoting process. Time Wise demand fulfillment support services can help.

SupplyPoint® is an interactive, Web-based database application that enables small manufacturers to describe their production capabilities and capacity. Currently, SupplyPoint® contains detailed profiles on 5,200 small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in the New England area and Florida. The unique feature of SupplyPoint that sets it apart from other databases is the information on individual make, models, and controllers of each Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine.

SupplyPoint® makes it possible for SMEs to participate in supply chain contract opportunities issued by the Department of Defense (DoD), prime contractors and 1st tier suppliers by: 1) alerting SME’s about supply chain opportunities that they are qualified to respond to; and 2) in conjunction with the Center for Supply Chain Integration, by significantly reducing the pre-quote engineering workup and the risks associated with underquoting or overquoting a solicitation. SupplyPoint® also enables different manufacturers to link their expertise, combining efforts on a quote.

SupplyPoint® enables the Department of Defense, prime contractors and 1st tier suppliers to get detailed visibility of validated capabilities of suppliers; to access a vast network of the nation’s advanced machine shops for sourcing new suppliers as well as secure alternate suppliers; to give them the capacity to rapidly respond to surge demands and low volume procurements; to expand the pool of capable minority, Native American, disabled veteran and other disadvantaged manufacturing firms; and to help them achieve lower cost, higher quality and lower lead times.

> Center for SupplyPoint Chain Integration and Risk Management

The Center for SupplyPoint Chain Integration and Risk Management provides advanced CNC programming and engineering services that rapidly facilitate the drop down of technical requirements to SMEs. We can reduce your quote response time significantly by supplying your technical data, program data, program plans and/or contract data, and requirements listings. As a result, small advanced machine shops can now submit several competitive quotes on a daily basis that will greatly increase their chance for a contract award. Before the Center for SupplyPoint Chain Integration and Risk Management, many of these SMEs could not realistically participate in defense and commercial solicitations because of time, cost, and risk factors.

Center for SupplyPoint Chain Integration and Risk Management's services are especially useful for supply chain contract solicitations involving hard-to-source parts that are no longer made. Such parts can be reverse engineered by scanning the actual part on a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and then translating this information into an actionable technical data package. Having an accurate data package enables an SME to submit a very precise and timely quote response.

This is how it works - the Center for SupplyPoint Chain Integration and Risk Management receives a quote solicitation for a hard-to-source part. Then, it takes 1D raster drawings from Pro E, Catia, AutoCAD, Step files, and many others file formats and produces a 3D model of the part. Once the model of the part is made and verified, a 3D E-drawing is produced and electronically sent to all capable SMEs registered in SupplyPoint® capable of manufacturing the part. SMEs do not need special software to view these files, but are able to view, rotate, measure and mark on the E-drawing without the ability to modify the drawing or the part dimensions. When a qualified SME is ready to quote the part, the center provides the part process sheets, tool sheets, and the G-code specific to the SME’s machine and tool crib.