Strategic Cost Management
Master Data System Enables Quick Wins Through Component Standardization
Having a robust master part and master supplier list can yield many low hanging fruit for organizations in the early stages of their procurement transformation. Many of these opportunities can be driven by looking at redundant part numbers, contracts that […]
Excess and Obsolete Inventory: An Outcome of a Series of Unfortunate Events!
Inventory continues to be a problem for many companies. In particular, inventory that is considered “Excess and Obsolete” often accumulates and has to be dealt with – often at the end of the fiscal year. During tax season, this is also […]
What Buyer-Supplier Collaboration Looks Like in Real Life….
I had the privilege of facilitating and witnessing first hand a great example of what a true strategic partnership looks like recently, when a large pharmaceutical brand met with a large global Contract Drug Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) at their site. […]
Is the FAR getting in the way of Early Supplier Involvement in defense projects?
Product development within the U.S. defense industry tends to follow a waterfall-phased lifecycle development approach beginning at the concept level and concluding at the subsystem/component level. The concept level design phase is typically summarized in a system concept document. This […]
Resin prices vary a lot more than you think! RTi helps you understand why..
I had a great opportunity to meet with CEO Pete Suerken from Resin Technologies Inc. (RTi), yesterday, and share thoughts on how should-cost models are being actively used to drive improved visibility into the true costs of resin, paper packaging, and […]
Supply Chain Predictions for 2018: Real-Time, Innovation, Cognitive, Blockchain, Industry-Academic Partnerships, and Taking a Stand!
I had an opportunity to work on a number of exciting projects this past year, and in the process, spent a lot of time talking about digital supply chains with a lot of really informed people. Here are a few […]
Beroe Founder Vel Dhinagaravel speaks at NC State on Origins of Company
This week, my former student Vel Dhinagaravel, and founder/CEO of supply market intelligence company Beroe, came to my class to speak. Listening to him reminded me of the fun we had starting up the first ever company to produce supply […]
Hilarious Sourcing Videos
I had an opportunity to watch some hilarious sourcing videos recently that I discovered on a sourcing blog by Citro Strategy. The three scenarios depict the actions of “hardball negotiating” procurement approaches, that are translated into negotiation scenarios that individuals in the […]
NC State ranked as a top 25 global supply chain programs at SCM World… and here's why!
Great news this week for NC State as SCM World announced its top 25 supply chain management programs globally. The NC State Supply Chain program was listed as one of the top 25 programs in the world, which says a lot […]
Outsourcing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Lessons from Nortel Networks
Jeff Townley, former Chief Procurement Officer at Nortel Networks, provided some fantastic insights in my MBA class this evening. In so doing, he shared some great insights about “Outsourcing: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.” The GOOD – “ODM’s […]