Sourcing and supplier development
Finding, qualifying, and onboarding suppliers. Structured RFQs with weighted scorecards, sample and first article coordination, and direct negotiation with domestic and overseas factories.
Michael C. Bardier, CIPM, COBAF-P
I run your procurement. Not a report about it.
Twenty five years in industrial procurement, two published books on the work, and a fractional procurement and supply chain business for manufacturers and distributors who need the capability without the headcount. I do the sourcing, the negotiating, the ordering, and the supplier chasing myself.
- Industrial procurement
- 25+ years
- Annual purchased spend managed
- $16.5M
- Active suppliers managed
- 321
- Countries sourced from
- 21
The problem
Purchasing is running your company instead of the other way around
In most companies under $100M in revenue, purchasing lands on whoever has room for it. An operations manager, a controller, the owner. It works until the day a supplier misses, a price moves, or a part goes on allocation, and then it costs far more than anyone budgeted for.
You do not need a purchasing department to fix that. You need someone who has done this for 25 years to take the category, run it properly, and hand you back a supply base that behaves.
You are probably a fit if
- You are a manufacturer or distributor from start-up through $100M in revenue
- You buy roughly $1.5M or more in materials and goods each year
- Nobody owns purchasing full time, or the person who owns it is stretched across three other jobs
- You want the work done, not a deck telling you what to do
What I do
Six areas of work, all of it hands on
Every engagement is built from these. Most start with one category and grow from there.
Cost reduction and negotiation
Quote analysis, cost breakdowns, freight and packaging terms, payment terms, and renegotiation of the agreements you already have. Savings tracked and reported, not claimed.
Purchasing operations
Purchase order management, min and max planning, expediting, backorder recovery, and cleaning up the purchasing side of your ERP so the numbers can be trusted.
Supplier performance
Scorecards, on time and quality metrics, corrective action, and quarterly business reviews that suppliers actually prepare for.
Supply risk and continuity
Single source exposure, dual sourcing, lead time buffers, and country concentration. Tariff and classification support when a project calls for it.
Reporting you can act on
A standard monthly reporting menu of 21 reports. You pick the ones that matter to your business and they arrive on the same day every month.
Engagements
Four ways to work together
Every engagement is quoted as a fixed fee or a fixed monthly retainer before any work starts. You always know the number.
Start here
Pilot
A paid 30 day test on one category. You get real output and a clear picture of how I work before you commit to anything longer. This is the honest way to try a new supplier, and I am a supplier.
30 days
Fixed fee
One category
No renewal obligation
Fixed fee
One category
No renewal obligation
Defined work
Project
A specific piece of work with a defined start and finish. A resourcing project, an RFQ event, a supplier consolidation, a purchasing process rebuild.
Four to eight weeks
Fixed scope
Fixed fee
Fixed scope
Fixed fee
Ongoing
Procurement Partner
Ongoing procurement support on a monthly retainer. I own the sourcing and supplier work while your team keeps the day to day transactions.
Monthly retainer
Three month minimum
30 days notice
Three month minimum
30 days notice
Full ownership
Embedded Procurement Manager
I function as your procurement manager. Supplier base, spend, purchase orders, performance, and reporting all sit with me, at a fraction of the cost of the hire.
Monthly retainer
Six month minimum
60 days notice
Six month minimum
60 days notice
Straight answer
Strategic Supply Group is a new firm. Here is what stands behind it.
I am not going to show you a wall of client logos, because the firm is new. What is not new is the work. Twenty five years of industrial procurement, a supplier base of 321 vendors and more than 13,000 SKUs at $16.5M in annual purchased spend, direct factory negotiation in China, India, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, and two published books on procurement and supply chain.
That is why the Pilot exists. Thirty days, a fixed fee, one category, and you judge me on output instead of promises.
What you get in the first 30 days
- A spend and supplier picture for the category, built from your own data
- A qualified list of alternate or additional suppliers
- An RFQ run properly, with a weighted comparison you can defend
- A written recommendation and the savings or risk reduction it carries
Published work
Two books on this work, written from the buyer's chair
If you want to know how I think before you talk to me, start here.
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Tell me what you buy and where it hurts.
A short call, no charge, no pitch deck. If a Pilot is the right next step I will say so. If it is not, I will tell you that too.