"A company that fails to manage its supply chains at a strategic level is unlikely to meet its business objectives effectively."

Increased sophistication in customer requirements and greater competition, have pushed the industry towards higher and higher levels of efficiency in an effort to meet customer needs and cut costs. One of the results of this drive has been the outsourcing of goods and services to third parties, in a way that has inexorably bonded the supply chains of operators, contractors and suppliers.

Increased efficiency provides the contract with the performance improvements it seeks, or and we have designed a new approach which takes into account the whole Supply Chain. Larger companies are concerned not only with their immediate first tier suppliers but also their second and third tier suppliers, all of whom form a supply network and ensuring that products and operations are all of high quality is also important.

Supply Chain Management is about managing the flow of information, materials, services and money across any activity, in a way which maximises the effectiveness of the process. It is about introducing new tools or revising well-known techniques in an effort to ask ourselves: "Is this the right thing to do" rather than "Is this the best way we can continue to do the same thing". This is a continuous process, not a one-time fix.

In short, successful Supply Chain Management reduces the costs to both clients and suppliers, while sustaining or improving added value and margins. Consequently, it is those companies that have effective supply chains which are most successful.

A company that fails to manage its supply chains at a strategic level is unlikely to meet its business objectives effectively.

"Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing."

The more integrated the flow of data between customers and suppliers, the easier it becomes to balance supply and demand across the entire contract. Where real-time demand information and inventory visibility were once impossible dreams, information technology is now indispensable to demand forecasting, inventory planning, and customer relationship management. The game is therefore not only about synchronizing all actors and activities in the supply chain, but also about being driven by real-time demand information and thus being truly responsive to customers. This is why we are promoting the term demand chain management.

In today's highly competitive and pressured marketplace the pressure on organisations to find new ways to create and deliver value to customers is increasing. In the last two decades, logistics and supply chain management has moved to the centre stage to become a key determinant of business competitiveness.

We believe that the supply chain is structured to deliver the efficient and effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in response to our customer requirements.

Management of these activities has been revolutionised over the past twenty years by addressing logistical issues through an extended perspective of the supply chain that incorporates concepts from several management disciplines, including: strategy formation, logistics and manufacturing management; management accounting; marketing; and operations research.

Management of the supply chain, therefore, requires cross-functional understanding and sound technical and managerial skills that are becoming more and more important with the inevitable challenges brought about by consumer demand for greater choice and improved value, the consolidation of operations, intensified competition, environmental issues, and increasingly turbulent and expanding markets.

The company is developing innovative packages for managing contracts and supply chains in partnership with its clients. Whilst the company maintains a central location for its core administration such as personnel, payroll, audit and executive management, it can manage contracts on a decentralised basis either for the duration of the contract or until such time a critical mass is established to demand an extended presence. This has many benefits and few drawbacks as we believe it facilitates the contract proactively and can deliver a more responsive service with cost benefits to both parties.

We will source materials and goods locally by establishing accounts with suppliers. We believe that stores carry an unnecessary overhead and cost to the contract. By sourcing locally we are directly feeding back into the local economy cash generated through the contract.

We are committed to employment and training initiatives and we will establish links locally to develop a supply of staff and labour from within the contact area. The company is committed to New Deal and other initiatives that encourage the long term unemployed to retrain and return to the workplace. We aim to generate technical, administrative and trade positions in our schemes.

We subscribe to the notion that to successfully develop your contract you are joining with one or more partners to share resources, risks, and rewards from a joint enterprise. We look to develop a strong relationship with a major customer and to develop a relationship with a supplier of innovation or product for that customer. We wish to develop an alliance in pursuit of a common goal and this will generate trust if we are seeking to do this in an open and correct manner.

• Deliver the project specification to the agreed budget, timetable and standards of quality
• Adopt the appropriate Codes of Practice and guidance where applicable in selecting team members
• Practice teamwork, trust, and respect, fair dealing, effective communication and openness with all in the project
• To work on an open book basis and share risks/rewards
• Provide all necessary skills to deliver the project
• Build a balanced workforce in all parties
• Seek continuous improvement with appropriate research and innovation to support the project
• Define, manage and present the project with a responsible attitude towards the environment, the local neighbourhood and the health and safety of all
• Inform everyone involved in the project of these commitments as well as other key people within our organisations
• Monitor performance and provide feedback to all parties during and after the project
• To deal with all issues arising in an open and expedient manner, seeking input for the best fit solution from all of the involved parties

By implementing the strategy we have proposed we would hope to build a natural foundation in our programme for Continuous Improvement (CI). Most organisations fail to recycle the experiences that they gain from working with their partner contractors. We would wish to retain, review and recycle all the lessons we have learnt from working with you now, and from working with you in the future.

We would jointly develop a series of benchmarks in workshops with you and we would like to see the involvement of tenant representatives in these meetings. There are a number of CI toolkits produced from programmes such as Constructing Excellence all of which can be adapted for the project and we would be happy to use them as the basis for a bespoke toolkit for the your project.