Archive for the 'Procurement' Category
The credit crisis is the supply chain risk getting most of the attention these days. But in the recent online Town Hall forum, IACCM President & CEO Tim Cummins, pointed out another risky behavior that many companies engage in. Tim said a “hero culture”, where saving the company from disaster in the nick of time, […]
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November 5th, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Supply Management, Best Practices, Procurement, supply risk, supply chain finance
This quarter’s SupplyWatch report hit the virtual shelves Friday (print edition will go out to subscribers shortly). In addition to the Core Category Details, this issue includes an interview with Yahoo! CPO Ron Carcamo, a man who was brought into the company 18 months ago to get their spend under control and chart a course […]
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November 3rd, 2008 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Procurement, Case Study, travel, SupplyWatch
I recently laid out my thoughts how Web 3.0 will change sourcing and procurement by increasing the volume of information about buyers and suppliers. B the time that evolution occurs, the internet itself will be massive. Actually…what am I saying…it already is massive and that’s why everyone relies so heavily on Google to index everything.
But […]
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October 31st, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Supply Management, Best Practices, Procurement, technology trends
Ryan Walicki of National City Bank leads a procurement team with some very aggressive savings goals. With their focus on indirect spend (a bank, after all, can’t print money), they’re tasked with a 500% ROI on their efforts this year and a whopping 700% next year!
Despite those massive goals, procurement has actually taken a lead […]
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October 23rd, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Supply Management, Enviro/Social Sustainability, Best Practices, Procurement, indirect spend, Spend Management Days
Another enlightening presenter at last week’s Spend Management Day in Seattle - which by the way was at the Edgewater Hotel of Beatles fame and Led Zeppelin infamy - was Erik Rupinski from MeadWestvaco’s Supply Chain Solutions group.
Like many companies, MeadWestvaco (MWV) is global in terms of their supply chain, acquisition strategy and sales. Some […]
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October 20th, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Supply Management, Enviro/Social Sustainability, Best Practices, Events, Procurement, LCCS and trade, Sustainable Sourcing, Spend Management Days
The electronic world can only get so far on automation, as I was reminded yesterday at the Seattle Spend Management Day. Brian Jones, Purchasing Operations guru at Nestle, discussed the opportunities, process and results from their efforts to categorize spend in order to identify low hanging procurement fruit and drive ongoing spend management initiatives across […]
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October 17th, 2008 | Posted in Best Practices, Events, Spend Analysis, Procurement, commodities, Spend Management Days
Despite the economic turmoil, people still need to eat. And when times are tough, they’re naturally going to eat out less, cook more meals at home and even brown bag some lunches. So, you would assume that provides opportunity for supermarkets, but that might not always be the case.
Last week Safeway announced they had increased […]
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October 16th, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Supply Management, Best Practices, Spend Analysis, Procurement, supply risk, recession, retail
On a swing through Europe last week, I had the good fortune to attend a discussion with British Airways CEO Willie Walsh during the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) forum at the new Sofitel in the airline’s new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow.
In between pot shots at rival Virgin Airlines CEO Sir Richard […]
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October 13th, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Enviro/Social Sustainability, Best Practices, Supplier Management, Outsourcing, Procurement, oil/energy, transport, air freight
All too often, we have good intentions in life but aren’t quite sure how to put those intentions into action. The cynics among us (and are there any non-cynics left?) question whether petitions we’re asked to sign really mean what we’re told and whether or not donations end up going where they claim.
Enter the internet […]
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October 10th, 2008 | Posted in Sourcing, Enviro/Social Sustainability, Procurement, On Demand/SaaS, DonorsChoose, education
My own travels last week offer validation from the trenches that Amex’s predictions for travel curbs will come to fruition. Travel restrictions were a hot topic at the Sourcing Interests Group (SIG) Conference last week. No less than five procurement execs said their companies had implement restrictions for all but sales related travel. (Only two […]
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September 30th, 2008 | Posted in Spend Management, Sourcing, Supply Management, Best Practices, Events, Procurement, SIG, Top 5 Sourcing Opps, travel