BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boise Cascade Engineered Wood Products, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, has been selected as one of only 15 national 2015 winners of the prestigious "A,A Partners of Choice" Award for supply chain management from David Weekley Homes, the 3rd-largest for profit, privately-owned U.S. home builder. The coveted "A,A Partners of Choice" honor is awarded to David Weekley Homes trading partners receiving the highest marks through participation in Weekley's world-class supplier evaluation platform. This platform challenges David Weekley Homes and its suppliers to achieve excellence through a rigorous continuous improvement process, the heart of which is the "National Trading Partners Survey." Only 7% of 200 suppliers doing business with David Weekley Homes received the highly sought after "A,A Partners of Choice" award in 2015, marking the 9th time Boise Cascade has received the "A,A" award for quality and service excellence.
IMPORTANCE OF "CHANNEL ALIGNMENT"
Trading partners aren't judged solely on their own actions, but also on the actions of their channel partners in delivery and installation of goods. This concept of "channel alignment," coined by David Weekley Homes, challenges suppliers to actively manage the supply chain to ensure that products and services are delivered and installed seamlessly into David Weekley homes. Interactive feedback is available 24/7/365 so trading partners can check performance data by quarter for the past year and beyond. Tools are in place for trading partners to monitor their improvement and their progress toward supply chain perfection.
"We will continue to need partners willing to work with us to manage the supply chain," said Bill Justus, vice president of Supply Chain Services for David Weekley Homes and author of this rigorous supplier evaluation program. "And over nine years, as decided by about 15,000 individual quality and service rating opportunities, our team members confirmed Boise Cascade has done that," said Justus. "Winning for both quality and service in the same year is rare, and this marks the ninth time Boise Cascade has done it," he said.
ASSESSING VENDOR PERFORMANCE ACROSS INDUSTRY LINES
With this program, David Weekley Homes has found a way to assess vendor performance across industry lines – from framing lumber to furnaces, paint to electrical supplies. "The survey asks about response time, follow-through, communication, access, reliability, method of contact, level of confidence in the supplier, and other areas important to any business relationship. A key to Boise Cascade's success is that they understand the importance of remaining actively involved throughout the entire order, delivery and installation phases of the job," said Justus.
POTENTIAL PARTICIPATION IN FUTURE DAVID WEEKLEY HOMES GROWTH:
This honor could bring with it the opportunity for manufacturers and their channel partners to participate in aggressive growth plans of David Weekley Homes, which believes relying on successful current business relationships will be key to bypassing supply chain issues typically faced when starting operations in new markets. "Demonstrated strong performance provides David Weekley Homes the information necessary to select the best possible team of companies to join us when we enter new markets," Justus added.
THE INFORMATION BEHIND THIS PROGRAM
At the heart of the evaluation system is the National Trading Partner Survey, a running quarterly review of suppliers as assessed by approximately 800 team members from all levels within David Weekley Homes. "The National Trading Partner Survey is not a static competition, but a very rigorous and dynamic evaluation system that constantly challenges all parties in the supply chain to be as effective and efficient as possible," Justus said. Suppliers are rated quarterly on a 1-10 scale in both quality and service, and the scores for each company are averaged and ranked with all other participants. "It is very difficult for any supplier to achieve an "A" rating in both quality and service for three months, then maintain it for the entire year," Justus added.
THANK YOU TO DAVID WEEKLEY HOMES
"All of us at Boise Cascade want to thank Bill and his team for developing and executing this highly original, comprehensive program that helps us at Boise Cascade perform at the highest levels and align our network of channel partners with David Weekley Homes across America," said Denny Huston, Boise Cascade Engineered Wood Products vice president of sales and marketing. "We are very proud of our strong working relationship with David Weekley Homes and have infinite respect for the fairness and effectiveness of this National Trading Partners Survey and evaluation system," said Huston.
About David Weekley Homes
David Weekley Homes, founded in 1976, is headquartered in Houston and operates in 19 cities across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes "America's Best Builder," "National Housing Quality Award" and two-time recipient of "National Builder of the Year." Weekley has also appeared eight times on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For®" list. Since inception, David Weekley Homes has closed more than 75,000 homes. For more information about David Weekley Homes, visit the company's website at www.davidweekleyhomes.com.
About Boise Cascade
Boise Cascade Company, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber and particleboard and distributes a broad line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the Company. For more information about Boise Cascade Company, visit www.bc.com.
© 2015 Boise Cascade Wood Products, L.L.C. BOISE CASCADE and the TREE-IN-A-CIRCLE symbol are trademarks of Boise Cascade Company or its affiliates. David Weekley Homes is a trademark of David Weekly Homes. FORTUNE is a trademark of Time Inc.