Slow Vendor product submittals are killing my jobs. Purchasing dept is not being tough enough with vendors for slow turnaround times. We are getting way to far into jobs before we have approved submittals, not a good way to be efficient! Any one have any suggestions for ways to speed up the submittal process?
You write Purchase Orders that require a specified delivery date and tell them they must meet that date and that "time is of the essence" (use those exact words in the agreement). They only get relief from the delivery date if you or your customer holds them up. I have had switchgear built and delivered before the submittals were approved because the supplier was unable to do timely submittals.
When you get the supplier to agree that "time is of the essence" you make them responsible for all of your increased costs that result from their failure to deliver on time. Another approach is to get them to agree that they will credit you $XXX for every day their product is late due to their own negligence.
The above approach, if you can get a supplier to agree to it, does not make many friends but you tend to get your materials delivered sooner.