January 2003
Welcome to Achieving Excellence (AE). The Achieving Excellence process develops relationships through a supplier evaluation process that promotes communication and continuous improvement. It provides John Deere the opportunity to share performance expectations on quality, delivery, technical support, wavelength (relationships) and cost management. It also recognizes suppliers for their achievements and improvements. The results are mutually beneficial with potential business growth for both John Deere and suppliers.
John Deere continues to make adjustments to challenge our suppliers and ourselves as we attempt to assure continuous improvement in the AE process. We continue to enhance the process by simplifying calculations and increasing the objectivity of ratings given to AE suppliers. The brochure with insert pages enclosed with this letter, explain the AE Evaluation Process. Please review the material, especially the criteria on the inserts, and become familiar with the areas considered in the evaluation process.
Quality and Delivery PPM guidelines for Fiscal Year 2003 are listed on the enclosed pocket card and have not changed from 2002 guidelines. In future years, we do plan to tighten the guidelines as we move to 6 Sigma Quality and 5 Sigma Delivery.
In Fiscal Year 2002, we introduced a new online system which allows JD team members to enter comments throughout the year for your review. Your John Deere Supply Management representative from each unit or division will be available to explain the web applications.
The following John Deere divisions will be rolling up factory ratings to do Division evaluations for Fiscal Year 2003: John Deere Power Systems, Commercial and Consumer Equipment, and Construction and Forestry (Davenport and Dubuque with a few Timberjack, Woodstock suppliers). Evaluations will still be conducted at the unit level, however the ratings from the units will be rolled into a division rating. In addition, several commodities will be rolled up to an Enterprise level for evaluation. Suppliers will be notified, by their John Deere Supply Management representative, if they are part of a Division or Enterprise rollup. The Division or Enterprise ratings can be viewed on the web by using the unit Supplier Performance Summary ( SPS ) dropdown menu.
No changes have been made to the John Deere Quality Manual or Quote Form for Fiscal Year 2003. The use of the Quality Manual and Quote Form are an expectation of John Deere and they are an important part of the AE Process. They can be viewed at
We do have one enhancement coming to JD CROP by April 2003. It is in response to several requests to be able to enter attachments when submitting suggestions. We hope this will be more convenient when you have spreadsheets and scanned sketches.
Also, in fiscal year 2003, we are asking and expecting suppliers to keep their contact information, including addresses, up to date. This can be found on JD Supply Network under Supplier Profile. This is very important to insure that current information gets to the right people in your organization.
Formal recognition for outstanding performance is an important part of the AE process. We do provide at year end, plaques for Partner suppliers, Hall of Fame winners (explained in the brochure) and Supplier of the Year selections. Also, for FY 2003, we do plan to hold an Achieving Excellence Banquet for Partner suppliers andhope to add additional activities in the Spring of 2004. Most important to you is that John Deere continues to make an effort to consistently place business with our Partner and Key classification suppliers as opportunities arise.
We look forward to your support of Achieving Excellence throughout the new fiscal year.
Sincerely,
Gary L. Grebner
AE Project Manager
Enclosures