Organizing for Supply Chain

Nov 29, 2023

Supply Chain Leadership Series VI: Pam Heminger, Senior Vice President of Procurement & Planning, Caterpillar

Driving Transformation in a Global Organization Pam Heminger knows a thing or two about transformation. During her 24 years at Honda of America, she helped implement many of the supply… 

Jan 1, 2023

Ten Supply Chain Predictions for 2023

As we go into the first week of 2023, many are wondering what’s ahead for global commerce and supply chains.  As I’ve done in prior years, I’ll make a few… 

May 14, 2021

Toyota Cites 2011 Japanese Earthquake as a Paradigm to Prepare for Semiconductor Bottleneck

Despite the semiconductor shortage that has rattled many automotive industries, Toyota does not feel it will be affected in the near future. The Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, as reported by… 

Nov 14, 2020

Building a More Immune Supply Chain: Focusing on the Basics

What should organizations do when confronted by a global disruption like the pandemic?  This question was faced by many companies and private sector organizations who were faced with a sudden… 

Jul 10, 2020

Will People Ever Go Back to Work in an Office?

As we continue to plow through the difficult times, with COVID cases spiking in multiple states across the country, the hopes for a normal return to the workplace is diminishing… 

May 11, 2020

We Need Supply Chain Immunity, not Resiliency: A Position Paper

In today’s post I am sharing insights from a position paper that my colleague Dan Finkenstadt, PhD, myself, and other academic and government officers are working on.  The paper is… 

Mar 22, 2019

Procurement Leadership Workshop: Addressing the Need for a New Stakeholder Influence Model

Some of the typical complaints I hear from procurement colleagues are the same ones I heard 20 years ago, and it seems as if nothing has changed. “Procurement doesn’t get… 

Jun 27, 2017

Assessing the True Return of Procurement Transformation on Total Shareholder Return: A Tough Proposition

In my earlier book with Gerard Chick on “The Procurement Value Proposition“, we advance the notion that buildoing a business case for investing in people, process, and technology improvement in… 

Mar 17, 2017

Procurement Leaders Blog Post: Cross-Functional Teaming is Easier Said Then Done

Continuing my reporting of the Procurement Leaders meeting in Miami, I sat in on a very interesting session that included three professionals from very different walks of life: Captain Harry… 

Mar 16, 2017

Procurement Leaders '17: Supplier enabled innovation is a foundation for procurement's strategic repositioning

I had the opportunity to sit in on a number of sessions at Procurement Leaders American Congress 2017 in Miami this week.  Despite the snowstorms that prevented many from making…