Supply-Works - Unlocking the power of network effects for supplier intelligence and visibility in the medical devices sector

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**Background**: SMEs are particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. Supplier management takes up considerable time and energy for the whole team and presents signi?cant risks to business continuity and viability. SMEs face further challenges through a lack of leverage in supplier relationships (lower-valued orders), competing against larger, better-established customers for supplier priority. SMEs urgently need supply chains to become more resilient and responsive.Senti-Tech is a medical device developer/manufacturer, creating a wearable smart garment to advance the care of people with long-term respiratory illnesses. We have had numerous suppliers increase delivery estimates after placing orders and even after up-front invoicing; not all attributable to the supply chain crisis. We've been hit by quality issues that set us back by months. We've had the anxiety of suppliers not replying to us. In the worst case, critical components were delayed by over six months.Identification of high-quality suppliers is a lottery: until you place an order, it is extraordinarily difficult to know how well the supplier will perform (even when suppliers are recommended by trusted advisors).**Innovation**: We've fortunately been able to invest in our supply chain, and a combination of staff dedicated to supplier management and internal tools to help with supplier compliance have helped us to manage these challenges. However, we realised that there is a better way. One which would allow any SME to attain the procurement reach of a far larger organisation at a fraction of the cost.**Our innovation**, Supply-Works, is software that underpins a network of SMEs. We share trusted supplier intelligence across this network, helping each of those SMEs to reduce time and effort on supplier due-diligence and get access to an active stream of supplier intelligence data, from late deliveries to broken parts. Our proprietary Trust Score will enable SMEs to know which suppliers are likely to complete their orders without quality or delivery incidents.**Outcomes**: Supply-Works has the potential to signi?cantly impact across the manufacturing supply chain. We'll help SMEs make more informed choices about their suppliers and, in particular, strengthen resistance and responsiveness in their supply chains.We anticipate that this will have many positive effects for the Liverpool City Region and beyond.