It's not every day that an MRO commodity manager has a chance to speak with the entire sales team of a strategic supplier. But Steve DeFord of Rockwell Collins had the opportunity recently. He was keynote speaker at the Stanley Supply & Services' third annual Sales & Partner conference at The Stanley Works world headquarters in New Britain, Conn.

DeFord is a member of Purchasing's All Star MRO Buy team for 2007.

And what did he have to say to the supplier? He asked it to put one extra degree of effort into the relationship between the two companies. "Rockwell Collins wants one thing more you would not have done yesterday," he said. "That's what peak performance means."

"Peak performance: Teamwork at its best!" was the theme of the gathering, which also included 25 of Stanley Supply & Services' key suppliers. Stanley Supply & Services provides products and services for assembling, repairing and testing electronic equipment.

The three-day event consisted of training, product demonstrations and a vendor fair. At an awards dinner, Stanley Supply & Services recognized its top sales achievements and presented its second Supplier of the Year and Best in Class performers awards. OK International in San Francisco took home the Supplier award. The honors for performance went to ITW Chemtronics in Kennesaw, Ga., and Micro Care in New Britain, Conn.

Holly Tsourides, president of Stanley Supply & Services, opened the event by greeting attendees and presenting a brief overview of the company's plans which include introducing a new sales leadership team and news of an expanding global footprint in 2008. In her introduction of DeFord, the keynote speaker, she said she'd like to "start a new tradition with more customer involvement" in the meeting.

In his talk, DeFord shared details of his company's relationship with the supplier, which has grown since Rockwell Collins centralized indirect procurement last year. The move, he said, frees up time of enterprise sourcing to spend on more strategic activities such as direct materials purchasing. Rockwell Collins manufactures communications and avionics systems and is a supplier to such big customers as Boeing, Airbus, Cessna and the federal government.

As part of the centralization effort, DeFord, who is responsible for approximately $300 million in indirect spending including MRO (maintenance, repair and operations), is working to consolidate the supply base, "from hundreds of suppliers to tens or even a handful."

With a fractured spend, "we don't get the resources we need from suppliers," he said. That's where the extra effort from Stanley Supply & Services comes in. As Rockwell Collins' customers are asking their suppliers to do more, such as providing kits or bigger subassemblies, Rockwell Collins also is asking its suppliers—in this case, indirect suppliers—to provide it with additional products and services such as vendor managed inventory (VMI).

"It's easier for Stanley Supply & Services to carry inventory for us until we need it than for Rockwell Collins to hold and redeploy it," he said, adding that eventually he'd like the supplier to perhaps manage the storeroom, an MRO purchasing best practice.

Results for Rockwell Collins are lower total costs of ownership. Same holds true for the supplier, which also can expect to receive more business from its customer, which DeFord outlined for the group.

The material and supply operation at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received Purchasing's Medal of Professional Excellence in 2005.