Robust Value Chain: Supplier Diversity in Outsourced Facility Maintenance Operations
Contributed by Garrett Goralski, Regional Sales Executive
According to INVESTOPEDIA, Value Chain is a business model that describes the full range of activities needed to create a product or service. Facility maintenance services, for instance, maintain a value chain that includes consecutive steps and individual processes to ensure customer facilities are cleaned and maintained with value-added and cost-effective benefits. Fundamentally, the most important value chain objectives are to perform with growing expertise and provide maximum value to customers at the least possible cost. As a result, most facility maintenance service providers focus on analyzing areas of inefficiency and prioritize improving day-to-day operations for better results. However, there are other effective strategies that can create robust value chains for outsourced facility maintenance services, including Supplier Diversity.
“Supplier diversity programs are meant to help create a more equitable economy. By sponsoring a growth-focused alliance between a diverse business and an established supplier and playing an active role in ensuring its success large companies can accelerate their progress in achieving that goal.” – Harvard Business Review
Similar to the various benefits of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in the workplace for any business, it is equally important to integrate D&I in external channels including the supply chain. Some of the most common business classifications that promote supplier diversity include:
- Small Businesses
- Minority-owned Businesses
- Women-owned Businesses
- Service-disabled/Veteran-owned Businesses
- LGBT-owned Businesses
- Development Program
- Disability-Owned Business Enterprise
Through supplier diversity, facility maintenance companies can get new opportunities for gaining key insights, building strong partnerships, focusing on innovation, and collaborating for a social impact, among others. An effective approach for these service providers is to identify suppliers with values and objectives that align with their own strategies. Simultaneously, it is important to develop a framework for supplier diversity and a development plan that will help gauge the effect on their own internal diversity goals as well as the impact on diversity spend objectives of the customers.
Diversified Maintenance is committed to maintaining a supply chain that prioritizes the inclusion of small and diverse businesses in the procurement process. In 2021, Diversified Maintenance spent over $14.5 million with diverse suppliers. Not only does the Company work with comprehensive objectives, it has also established a supplier development plan comprising of three key pillars: Engagement, Development, and Collaboration. These pillars facilitate in better understanding the supplier businesses, developing them through mentorship, sharing resources, and seeking opportunities to collaborate for gaining valuable experience. To learn more about partnering with a professional facility maintenance company with a resilient, diverse, and innovative supply chain, its impact on your diversity spend goals, and the long-run benefits for cost efficiency, send me a note at: Garrett Goralski ggoralski@diversifiedm.com
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