Supply Chain Strategy

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 18, 2017

Procurement Must Contribute to Competitiveness to Become Relevant!

Procurement is always thinking about cost savings, year over year.  But is this really a true measure of competitiveness? So procurement will have a budgeted amount for, say 4.5 cents… 

Sep 15, 2017

Sales Can Use RACI Charts to Understand Procurement… and vice versa!

RACI Charts have been around for years, yet are often discounted.  RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed – which refers to the relative governance structure that exists in… 

Jul 23, 2017

The Supply Chain Team's Impact on Capital Projects

In industries that are going through a lot of Capital Expenditure investments, including construction of pipelines, LNG facilities, and mining operations, the role of procurement on the success of the… 

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… 

May 9, 2017

Learning to Work with Machines That Learn What the Experts Know

It is no secret that future generations of managers are being asked to learn all about the different processes in the end-to-end supply chain, and be able to come together… 

Mar 4, 2017

SCRC Meeting: Mapping the Road Ahead in a Time of Daily Disconcerting Tweets

This week we announced the theme of our upcoming Supply Chain Resource Cooperative meeting.  The theme of the meeting, “Mapping the Road Ahead in Uncertain Times”, brings together a number… 

Dec 16, 2016

Guest Post from Tim Barnes: Navigating Trump’s 35% import tax, and how US companies can utilize “Parallel Manufacturing” to grow globally

Given our latest discussions on the impact of the Trump presidency on the supply chain, Tim Barnes’ excellent article shown below is exceptionally timely!  Tim has deep experience in navigating… 

Dec 13, 2016

More Insights on Deploying the Digital Supply Chain

On the second day of our executive focus group on the LIVING Supply Chain, the group took the opportunity to share insights regarding the emerging trends in the future of supply… 

Dec 12, 2016

Caterpillar BCP Tour opens up executive eyes to "Big Iron" supply chains

Over the course three days last week, a group of executives from a variety of different companies came together to share ideas and thoughts on the future of supply chain.…