Spreadsheets are usually the first tool used to manage suppliers, and the first to become a liability. Important updates get buried. Repeat supplier problems start popping up. Along the way, you start to wonder whether that cheaper vendor is really saving you money in the long run.

The core problem: Managing your approved vendor list (AVL) and tracking supplier quality issues via spreadsheets is unwieldy. It creates gaps in oversight that introduce serious quality risks.

Here, we look at why leading manufacturers are trading in their spreadsheets for supplier scorecards, and what they gain in the process.

Where spreadsheets break down

Spreadsheets may feel like a simple way to manage suppliers. But they aren’t designed to support continuous improvement in a rapidly evolving supplier landscape. The siloed nature of spreadsheets in particular leads to major risks in many organizations.

Poor visibility into trends: If a supplier has multiple product complaints over a few months, but those complaints live in separate tabs or systems, no one may realize there’s a trend until a major failure occurs.

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