Driving change is hard. Driving change in a highly decentralized business environment without a clear mandate can be downright overwhelming. That was the challenged faced by one of the world’s largest and most innovative technology companies.
 “For a company that prides itself on innovation, driving standard procurement processes and procedures is almost counter to the business […]
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May 24th, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
A common refrain I hear from procurement execs is ”What are the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure supply management success?” In a recent report, Aberdeen Group proffered a list of the Top 10 Procurement KPIs. But Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) tend to have a more direct answer: it’s all about cost savings. And cost avoidance doesn’t […]
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May 23rd, 2007 | Posted in Costing, Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
The Supply Management 2.0 Tour pulls into San Jose this Thursday, showcasing supply management executive views on driving complete supply management transformation. The Westcoast swing of the U.S. leg of the tour features:
Alvin Wong, Director of Strategic Sourcing at Roll International Corporation, will discuss his company’s unique “pull-demand” approach to unifying and streamlining supply management […]
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May 22nd, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
In addition to the risk management issue, the Supply Management 2.0 Forum in New York last week rekindled the old (tired?) debate on the differences between supply and spend management.ÂÂ
When discussing his group’s supply management transformation initiative, National City Corporation CPO Jean-Jacques Beaussart summed it up this way: “e-Sourcing and supply management is about real cash savings. […]
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May 21st, 2007 | Posted in Contract Management, Supply Management, Best Practices, Supplier Management, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
Yesterday’s post on National City Corporation’s  supply risk management approaches generated significant interest from Supply Excellence readers, several of whom asked for tips on how to assess and mitigate supply risk.
Jane Wanklyn, Director of Knowledge Management at A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions offered the following advice earlier this week at the Supply Management 2.0 Forum in New […]
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May 17th, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, supply risk, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
Risk management was the topic du jour yesterday at the Supply Management 2.0 Forum in New York. The risk issued figured heavily in all panelists’ presentations at the Forum. But research from A.T. Kearney and an informal poll of the supply management executives in the audience indicate that most companies lack sufficient risk assessment and contingency […]
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May 16th, 2007 | Posted in Best Practices, supply risk, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
Pardon the alliteration, but I am quite excited about the headliners at the Supply Management 2.0 Forum in Chicago this Thursday. The second stop on the Forum’s U.S. swing will feature leading supply management executives:
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Corporate Director of Supply Chain Management Greg Shifflett will provide a progress report on his company’s ongoing supply […]
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May 15th, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
Next Tuesday kicks off the U.S. swing of this year’s Supply Management 2.0 Forum tour. In true Big Apple style, the New York-based event boasts star quality presenters:ÂÂ
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National City Corporation Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) Jean-Jacques Beaussart will reveal how this Top 10 U.S. bank transformed its supply management performance through a mix of new strategic […]
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May 10th, 2007 | Posted in Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
Yesterday we examined the foundations of UPM-Kymmene’s supply management transformation initiative. Launched in earnest in 2001, the ongoing effort is expected to deliver €300 million in supply cost savings. Much of that supply savings will come from waste reduction and continuous improvement projects.
Speaking to a sold out crowd at the Supply Management 2.0 Forum in […]
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May 9th, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Supplier Management, Supply Management 2.0 Forum
The second stop on the Supply Management 2.0 Forum tour brought me to Stockholm, Sweden, a region known for its socialist leanings and for hosting the most public holidays of any country.
Considering this backdrop, Sweden might seem an odd place to hold a business conference. But after spending a few moments with attending supply managers […]
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May 8th, 2007 | Posted in Supply Management, Best Practices, Supply Management 2.0 Forum