Strategic Cost Management

Feb 28, 2018

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…

Feb 8, 2018

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…

Jan 25, 2018

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…

Dec 22, 2017

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…

Sep 10, 2017

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…

Apr 29, 2017

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…

Jan 8, 2017

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…

Sep 14, 2016

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…

Apr 11, 2016

Bo Andersson's Supply Strategy Collides With Vladimir Putin's Russia: The Performance Triangle Collapses

Automotive news seems to be coming up a lot lately. A story in the Wall Street Journal revealed that Bo Andersson, the current CEO of Russia’s largest car maker AvtoVAZ, plans…

Mar 15, 2016

What are Block Chains? – Jason Busch on the Future of Money, Trust and Transparency

Jason Busch provided a great view on Block Chains, and their impact on the future of funds in the supply chain, at the Global Procurement Tech Summit in Baltimore. Jason…