Category: Supply Chain

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The Supply Chain: 3/4/2015

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  • The Western procurement issue in China (Yes, the US did have some kind of back-door spying equipment installed in American-branded equipment but China isn’t an innocent party – they have been ripping off US patents and designs for years to get their manufacturers competitive.  )

    Yes, the US did have some kind of back-door spying equipment installed in American-branded equipment but China isn’t an innocent party – they have been ripping off US patents and designs for years to get their manufacturers competitive.

    http://www.techworm.net/2015/02/leading-western-technology-brands-like-apple-intelmcafee-shunned-from-chinas-approved-tech-listing.html

  • SAP: Welcome to the new era of procurement:

    Procurement can and will play an increasingly strategic role in managing this virtual enterprise, leveraging technology to simplify the way complex business gets done and manage their operations in a new and dynamic way that keeps their companies ahead of the competition. Procurement is evolving from service to a function. And with increasing frequency, it is focused on business value and enabling supplier innovations as opposed to just driving procurement savings through cost reductions.

    http://www.news-sap.com/procurement-2015-evolution-continues/

  • Four ways to access the strength of suppliers:

    A company with a high proportion of long-term contract agreements in its order book is likely to be more secure than a firm completing work on a shorter term basis. However, a retained contract should not prompt reckless overconfidence; it is often a good idea to look over notice periods and analyse the probability of changes in market conditions or demand which could reduce a client’s requirement for the business’ goods or services.

    http://www.supplymanagement.com/blog/2015/02/four-ways-to-assess-the-strength-of-suppliers

  • Failure to Work With Minority Owned Businesses a Challenge in the Private and Public Sector

    Last month, the NAACP Florida State Conference led by President Adora Obi Nweze released an Economic Development Report Card on the records of targeted cities, counties, school districts and private corporations in the State of Florida. What stood out amidst all of the findings were the poor minority procurement practices that were consistent through the public and private sector. In summary, most local governments spent less than two percent with veteran, minority and women -owned businesses.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dedrick-muhammad/failure-to-work-with-mino_b_6736984.html

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The Supply Chain: 2/25/2015

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  • 6 fixes for the federal procurement process (there are some points that carry over to the private sector):

     Procurement decisions are taking significantly more time than ever before. “Sliding to the Right” is a commonly used phrase these days. More are even being cancelled after proposals are submitted. Contractors spend countless hours and thousands of dollars bidding, often working late nights, holidays and weekends. Contractors often spend anywhere from 20-35 percent of a contract’s value on business development, capture, and proposal development compared to the private sector, which typically spends three to eight percent. Make decisions quicker and be respectful; it takes a lot of money and effort to respond to your RFP’s.

    http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/blog/2015/02/20/procurement-fix-legislation-rule/23754523/

  • UHC Member Hospitals Achieve More Than $450 Million in Supply Chain Savings

    The growth in member savings is attributable to many factors, including higher-volume purchasing through UHC’s supply contracting company, Novation; greater adoption of UHC’s advanced analytics; and member collaboration with UHC experts to identify savings opportunities linked to physician preference items, supply utilization, and standardization.

    http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2015/02/19/uhc-member-hospitals-achieve-more-450-million-supply-chain-savings

  • How eSCRM protects the supply chain
    http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/it/blog/2015/02/19/escrm-protects-supply-chain/23694359/
  • Talking to a Rising Supply Chain Star: Brian Dean, General Dynamics

    Being primarily a military contractor, like my company is, communication is a huge thing we use to build relationships with suppliers. A lot of times, there is little information we can share with the rest of the world but when we can share forecast or plans or anything like that it goes a long way to creating a strategic relationship with our suppliers. They can take that information and plan better on their side, which all of us want to do, and in the long run it makes things better for both of us. Also, when we find a supplier that is high performing, we want to promote them throughout the company and put them where it is a good fit. From our side, we get economies of scale, and the supplier gets more exposure into other lines of business. It’s all a give and take, working on finding ways that we can help each other meet our goals.

    http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=3219&doc_id=276651

  • Procurement Leaders offers a post that seems to refute IBM’s generational survey:

    So what, you may ask? For starters, millennials are very different from any of the previous generations. It starts with their upbringing and constantly being surrounded by mobile technology and social media. Apparently, they are also quite motivated, but not necessarily willing to compromise their personal life (we hear of more and more CPOs rethinking the 9-5 office life). And because millennials are so ambitious, they will also want to progress at a faster pace than the organisation can keep up with.

    http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–maggie-slowik/2015/02/17/do-you-know-who-is-on-your-procurement-team-

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The Supply Chain: 2/18/2015

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  • What happens if US Ports keep closing?

    Kelly Kolb, Vice President of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said: “A shutdown would not only impact the hundreds of thousands of jobs working directly in America’s transportation supply chain, but the reality is the entire economy would be impacted as exports sit on docks and imports sit in the harbour waiting for manufacturers to build products and retailers to stock shelves.

    http://www.supplychaindigital.com/supplychainmanagement/3831/What-happens-if-the-US-ports-keep-closing

  • Lessons from Apple

    Any violations found during the audit, which for Apple might include underage workers being used, document falsification, intimidation of or retaliation against workers participating in audits and significant environmental concerns, are raised with senior managers both at Apple and the supplier itself. That supplier is then placed on probation until they successfully pass another audit. During probation that supplier is monitored closely and if no commitment has been shown to then the relationship is ended.

    http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–tim-burt/2015/02/12/supplier-audits-lessons-from-apple

  • How to be a great procurement boss…

    Great bosses understand their organisation’s business objectives and ensure their own team’s targets align with them. Any good CPO will understand what is expected of their team, but the challenge lies in translating the big picture to each individual. Explain the link to them. Work with your staff to help them understand how the different dimensions of their role delivers value. Start by touching on efficiency, productivity, innovation, customer service and other non-cost related drivers which are critical success factors and they’ll start to see the connection more clearly.

    http://www.supplymanagement.com/blog/2015/02/five-top-tips-how-to-be-a-great-procurement-boss

  • Call the lawyers: Here are the real reasons why contract award protests are on the rise

    Don’t get me wrong, that is one reason why the numbers are increasing — by 5 percent in 2014, as I reported in November. But a panel of procurement experts pointed to a couple other reasons: more missteps by a more inexperienced government acquisition workforce, and the disintegration of the “protest stigma” that once existed in the industry.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/02/call-the-lawyers-hereare-the-real-reasons-why.html

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The Supply Chain: 2/11/2015

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  • Taking the guess-work out of forecast planning:

    To avoid the financial risks associated with planning errors, supply chain leaders and manufacturers should consider building an “insight-based” demand planning process, which brings together analytical tools and data with key human inputs across various functions. This “next generation” demand management approach will allow supply chain operations to evolve and scale with the ever growing volatility and uncertainty of today’s markets.

    http://blog.kinaxis.com/2015/02/what-if-you-could-take-the-guesswork-out-of-forecast-planning/

  • Vanguard named leader in supply chain strategy:
    The link is a press release with all the standard trimmings…
    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pwc-named-vanguard-leader-in-supply-chain-strategy–planning-300031396.html
  • McDonald’s and the challenges of a modern supply chain:

    The trouble is bad reputations aren’t lost that easily. A generation of cynical middle-class customers have already decided that McDonald’s is a tarnished brand. Supply-chain transparency is that kind of challenge: It’s rarely the top thing on consumers’ minds, but it is an issue that sticks in the imagination. And when newer, less tarnished players like Chipotle arrive, consumers can tacitly exercise the prejudices and cross the street. The lesson for other firms: If you have problems in your supply chain, don’t let the critics get there first.

    https://hbr.org/2015/02/mcdonalds-and-the-challenges-of-a-modern-supply-chain

  • Shell is leveraging supply chain to reduce costs:

    Van Beurden said the company was taking a prudent approach and would be careful not to overreact to the recent fall in oil prices. “There are cost reduction programmes in place across Shell, looking not only at our own costs, but also in the supply chain,” he said. “These programmes are balanced against the different strategic activities in the company, we’re not chasing costs for costs’ sake, and we are careful to make sure none of this compromises safety.

    http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2015/shell-drills-into-supply-chain-to-slash-costs

  • 4 issues original equipment manufacturers need to consider in 2015:

    Collaboration in the cloud will enable logistics companies to work seamlessly together.  In particular, smaller players will feel the benefit. Soon, the barriers to entry will get even lower. “Fourth party logistics providers (4PLs) as overall organizers are able to orchestrate the total supply chain,” said Farrell. “When you combine what you can do in the cloud with 4PL, you get to the point where you can combine multiple supply chain networks to get overall better service.”

    http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=3219&doc_id=276526&itc=ebnonline_gnews

  • The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem…

    For example, one of the greatest challenges in supply chain management is to get beyond a focus on cost reduction as opposed to revenue generation. If you are a supply chain executive, you struggle to have that discussion with the rest of the executive team. One retailer I know took a different approach to describing their metrics to get their point across.

    http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2015/02/03/the-problem-is-not-the-problem-the-problem-is-your-attitude-about-the-problem/

  • The core components of supply chain management:
    I like to read these summary general summary posts due to the “tell me what I don’t know” factor.  But something else jumped out at me when I read this article… Does this feel like the work that we do (or should be doing)?
    http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=3742&doc_id=276501
  • Procurement needs to innovate:

    For procurement to better contribute to institutional effectiveness, then, it needs to innovate. Promoting innovation in procurement means processes that are transparent and efficient, and that facilitate equal access and open competition. Innovative solutions to public service needs are instrumental to delivering better services with long-term value for money.

    http://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/innovation-procurement-why-and-how/?cid=EXT_TWBN_D_EXT&hootPostID=4dc8c253a29b9262da353be71ba78b06

  • 2015: the year of hyper-transparency in global business

    Many of the core benefits of increased transparency become apparent when its absence is considered. How can you address problems with your goods if you don’t know who is supplying you? How can you prioritise your activities if you aren’t collecting data on how you interact with your customers and suppliers? How can you mitigate risk if you don’t understand what your risks actually are? And how can you encourage trust and transparency within your own supply chain if it transpires that your own processes don’t support your suppliers.

    http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/feb/02/2015-hyper-transparency-global-business