A lot of people don’t like the military and do their best to find and pen disparaging articles on it. And that’s okay, it’s a free country. But every now and then you find an article like this one that really is quite disparaging. Army food is “cheaper than a dog’s dinner”. […]
Read the rest » Sourcing Innovation
Cadbury, who we know is making grandiose efforts to become synonymous with the color purple, is being hit with hard times. In addition to announcing job-cuts in the 7,500 range, it has also announced that it is planning to sell its US beverage unit (that makes Dr. Pepper, Snapple, and 7-Up) because, unlike Coca […]
Read the rest » Sourcing Innovation
It’s been an interesting week of comings and goings. Tony Blair, a politician whom I respect quite a bit — at least as much as I can respect a labour PM — has left office in the UK. And closer to home, Jamie Bedard’s departure from Aberdeen is now …
Read the rest » SpendMatters
When it comes to analyzing supplier part quality, it’s often easy to spot imperfections with the naked eye — or at least measure quality within prescribed tolerances and metrics. But what if a part had to fit into the concept of the Platonic ideal, …
Read the rest » SpendMatters
Even though it’s not making popular headlines yet, the recently announced export tax rebate changes in China are a huge deal for companies sourcing and exporting from the mainland. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal last week, “China’…
Read the rest » SpendMatters
Last week, I discussed the impact of the supplier-funded model on suppliers and overall spend coverage. What’s really interesting, though, is how the supplier-funded model actually affects customers.
Without skin in the game, customers seem less inclined to be as involved as they should be in pushing the program forward. Without any (obvious) cash outlay, there’s […]
Read the rest » Procureville
SupplyManagement.com recently ran an interesting article entitled the foundation of local growth that examined how purchasers in South Africa are tackling the problems caused by the absence of a strong supply base and lack of training that provides some insights that we all can benefit from.
The article quotes Alec Erwin, the minister for public […]
Read the rest » E-Sourcing Forum
In Part I, we defined Supply (Chain) Network Optimization as the optimization of your global distribution network to minimize costs while controlling risk to an acceptable level, discussed the various costs involved in a supply chain network, outlined some of the questions you should be asking, and outlined some of the complexities associated with Supply […]
Read the rest » Sourcing Innovation
While thumbing through the print version of Purchasing last week — about the only time I read the printed version of periodicals anymore is when my Vista machine needs to go through its 5-10 minute reboot cycle thanks to some bug — I came across a …
Read the rest » SpendMatters
Phil Fersht, a long time expert and pundit in the procurement outsourcing world, recently
launched his own blog that covers a range of outsourcing topics. Not one to be shy with opinions, he recently offered up some strong ideas questioning the val…
Read the rest » SpendMatters