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Supply Chain Management Article Library

Aug 28, 2003

Measuring the Maturity of Procurement Practices

Many companies today are deploying a myriad of procurement strategies, including: Applying reverse auctions to all commodities Apply strategic alliances with all commodities Outsourcing of key business processes Leveraging and…

Aug 20, 2003

Purchasing Manager Survey Says…

Business people have long used survey-based reports to observe markets and aid forecasting. In this regard, reports of purchasing manager surveys, in particular, are popular because they quickly furnish both…

Aug 14, 2003

A New Governance Role for Purchasing

I was recently asked by a team of people from one of our partner companies the following question: We are moving to a governance role from a service role, with…

Aug 7, 2003

Supplier Development: A Survey of Risks and Benefits

Though Japanese firms first embraced supplier development after the end of World War II, it has only begun to take hold in the United States in the past three decades.…

Jul 15, 2003

Capturing Savings of Alliances in the Energy Sector

Energy sector capital projects typically cost hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars to construct. A major component of these projects is the engineered equipment that the facility is…

Jul 9, 2003

The Road to Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing, an approach to manufacturing made famous by Toyota, has been hailed as the next great thing by consultants and practitioners. Fads, like reengineering and ERP solutions, have come…

Jul 2, 2003

Problems Facing the New Pharmaceutical Industry – Part 2

No one would disagree that new products are the lifeblood of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Almost every company in this sector is focused on developing new products, grow revenues,…

Jul 2, 2003

So You Want to Involve Suppliers in New Product Development?

Congratulations! You’ve reengineered your product development process and manufacturing’s inputs are finally integrated early enough to make a difference. Quality is up and products are launching faster. But that doesn’t…

Jun 24, 2003

Six Sigma: Where is it now?

Six sigma is a statistical level that represents 3.4 defects per million. Six Sigma is a process that has been around since the late 1970s and mid-1980s. It was developed…

Jun 19, 2003

Problems Facing the New Pharmaceutical Industry – Part I

As the 21st century begins, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry has entered an era of explosive growth in innovation, investment and competition. At the same time, both established players and…