Suppliers and contractors are backbone of most of the businesses. They bring agility and quality in to the business. Suppliers not only give you the raw material or ancillaries but they can be useful in determination of competitiveness, technology changes, market health and in new product development. Steel industry has been backbone of machines since the industrialization. It is hard to imagine our life without steel. Different variants of steel are ingredients of big finished machines as well as small tools. The same consume this steel from suppliers and finding professional supplier is not an easy task.

Professional steel supplier:

There are mainly five criteria's that which can be useful for determination of supplier professionalism. These five measures are: Quality, Reliability, Agility, credibility and competitive.

Quality: Quality is always been seen as the first priority by shrewd customer. But Quality comes at a price. Often steel suppliers are selected based on low price. It is desirable for successful business relationship that both parties form win-win situation. Machine Manufacture needs to evaluate the steel suppliers? quality policy and their technical capability of maintaining same quality on every order. It is also important to see supplier's existing client portfolio and research in to what quality of steel they receive. This is a single most important thing that forms the foundation of long term successful manufacture-vendor relationship so this should not be ignored. Steel quality is measured in terms of carbon content in it. There are various instruments and method available for evaluating quality of steel or say supplier!

Credibility: Well established and well reputed steel company has history of very good customer satisfaction ratio. It would give more insight of its credibility when you talk to their executive level management. Steel supplier with more number of years in business also understands and fulfills manufacturer requirement. Talking to their existing client will give you the best idea of vendor credibility and trust is very important thing in the business relationship.

Reliability: Reliability is also critical factor to determine good relationship. Reliable steel suppliers works with Just in Time (JIT) philosophy. They will supply you the exact number of items on precise time with immaculate quality. It also reduces the cost of storage and handling at the manufacturers end. Large suppliers are often more reliable then the small volume vendors. Big companies have the resources to devote to backup systems and sources so that, if something goes wrong, they can still live up to their responsibilities to you. But at times small companies also proved to be more responsive because of the? bigger is better? nature of business.

Agility: There are more variables/uncertainties in steel industry then ever before. Technology cycle is speediest in all times. Agility of the vendor is desirable to keep up with the changes in the market. Supplier needs to agile as much as you when it comes to responding new opportunity, technology, strategy and changes in the government law and market needs. Agility also decreases lead time when implemented in manufacturing environment.

Competitive: Competitiveness is a comparative concept of the ability and performance of a firm, sub-sector or country to sell and supply goods and/or services in a given market. It is the best indicator whether the business relationship will last longer or will end up in span of few years. For example the steel supplier is agile enough to respond the changes but question is can they deliver the product with the same price or often at lower price? Can the vendor maintain the same quality while maintaining its agility and credibility? Often supplier competitiveness is driven by the original equipment manufatureres (OEM).

Maintaining good relationship with supplier is as important as choosing one. Once the relationship established its good to work with rather they work for you.