Jason Busch recently penned a post on the use of Web 2.0 tools in procurement and lamented the absence of a killer app that has become an indispensable site professionals use on a daily basis (although he did tease us with a possible solution in early 2009). Point taken. After all, even the “bright spots” […]
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Metals Category Manager Mike Petro makes the case for why “right now is the time to source direct materials”…
If you’d like a closer look at the facts and figures Mike cited - as well as information on other categories that provide immediate strategic opportunities - you can find them in the mid-quarter SupplyWatch update here. […]
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Earlier today, Chrysler and Ford both announced they’ll be temporarily shutting down some production facilities. Chrysler is idling all 30 of their plants for at least one month, while Ford is extending their usual holiday shutdown for an extra week.
As Congress debates how best - or if - to address the plea of the automakers […]
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Even in a very dour employment market, there are always bright spots. As the saying goes…fortunes are made during recessions. So, tremendous volatility in commodity prices and a recession provide a HUGE opportunity for direct materials procurement professionals to make their career “fortunes”. The buyer’s market conditions provide obvious strategic and savings opportunities for procurement […]
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With oil bouncing around at under $45 per barrel, downstream commodity plastics have dropped precipitously. The chart below maps out the prices for HDPE, PS & PP (high-density polyethylene, polystyrene & polypropylene respectively) since January 2007. They’ve fallen off of a very steep cliff…
HDPE and PP are down more than 60% since their peak prices […]
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I must admit, the post by my comrade-in-arms Ed Bockman last week made me downright angry. Ed reports that the rising energy costs, inflation, and tightening supply markets of 2008 have made many spend management groups gun shy about strategic sourcing.
Buyers “simply don’t want to buy into the hype of pressure to “act now before […]
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As my colleagues have recently pointed out (here & here), it is definitely a buyer’s market right now. And similar to the broader economic recession, which often takes hindsight analysis of numerical data before they can officially call it a “recession”, buyers often feel the shift in their favor before they can quantify it. But, […]
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Last week, my colleague Dan Kowal posed the question - if you’re not sourcing now, why not? Plummeting prices and demand make it a buyer’s market for indirect and direct goods. But as Dan pointed out, many buyers are still sitting on the sidelines. Why?
In my observations from the trenches, I think you can chalk […]
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Many key commodities (Copper, Nickel, Zinc, Aluminum, Lead, Rubber, Resins, etc.) that go into the parts that we buy and the energy (Crude oil, Furnace Oil, Coal etc.) our suppliers are using to convert the raw materials into finished goods are at two, three and in some cases four year lows. Due to excess […]
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The latest supply chain risk story hitting the news this week is … pirates. Yes, pirates. With 8 pirate attacks on oil tankers off the coast of Somalia in the last 10 days, the total number of attacks this year is up 75%.
The story has all the ingredients necessary for a hyped up post-US-election week […]
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