Archive for the ‘Green eProcurement Practices’ Category
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
A recent survey by UN Global Compact and Accenture releases findings of largest CEO research study on corporate sustainability. According to this survey Chief Executives believe overwhelmingly that Sustainability has become critical to their success, and could be fully embedded into core business within ten years.
According to the survey CEO’s also believe that companies will need to meet the conditions listed below.
1. Shaping consumer tastes in order to build a stronger market for sustainable products.
2. Training management, employees and the next generation of leaders to deal with sustainability issues.
3. Communicating with investors to create a better understanding of the impact of sustainability.
4. Measuring performance on sustainability – and explaining the value of business in society.
5. Working with governments to shape clearer regulation and create a level playing field.
As a procurement leader what can you do in order to be prepared for those questions that may be coming to your desk tomorrow?
1. Stay educated by seeking sources that offer readily available and fresh content on procurement related sustainability developments.
2. Make sure that your procurement solution providers are also focused on sustainability.
3. Ask your procurement solution providers what their environmental support plans are and how to include them in your procurement business plan.
4. Ask your procurement solution providers what their product safety plans are and how to include them n your procurement business plan.
5. Ask your procurement solution providers what training programs they can offer to your company in order to educate your associates.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in Global E-procurement, Green eProcurement Practices, Procurement Solutions, Sourcing Strategy, Supply Chain Procurement
Friday, August 13th, 2010
About Ecologo
Twenty year old EcoLogo was founded in 1988 by the Government of Canada but now recognized world-wide, EcoLogo is North America’s largest, most respected environmental standard and certification mark. EcoLogo provides customers – public, corporate and consumer – with assurance that the products and services bearing the logo meet stringent standards of environmental leadership. EcoLogo certifies environmental leaders in over 120 product and service categories, helping customers find and trust the world’s most sustainable products.
The EcoLogo Program is a Type I eco-label, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This means that the Program compares products/services with others in the same category, develops rigorous and scientifically relevant criteria that reflect the entire lifecycle of the product, and awards the EcoLogo to those that are verified by an independent third party as complying with the criteria.
The EcoLogo Program is one of two such programs in North America that has been successfully audited by the Global Eco Labeling Network (GEN) as meeting ISO 14024 standards for eco-labeling.
Do your part and hold your suppliers accountable EcoLogo certification.. To learn more please visit the EcoLogo website.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in Green eProcurement Practices
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
I was reading a great article in yesterday’s USA TODAY titled Furniture to be greener, but pricier by Jayne O’Donnell. What caught my attention was an insert in the article also by the same author titled Finding ‘green’ furniture can take some effort. The premise of the insert was that you need to go to company’s websites if you are going to find out what makes up the products they sell as items will not be labeled or the sales people won’t know the answers.
For this author, that is complete whooie or at least should be. If a company of any merit has a set of CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, they tend to roll them out throughout their company to all employees as a differentiating service. This would certainly include everyone from the buyers who ask their trading partners these tough questions every day to the sales person that ends up selling the product.
However in a less than perfect world research is always helpful. If you do not post this information on your website, you should. If you do not have CSR initiatives, you should. If your sales people don’t know them by heart they should. At the end of the day your customers will have questions and they should.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments
Posted in Green eProcurement Practices, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Unfortunately, elsewhere is most likely your competition if they want a job in retail procurement.
In a recent USA TODAY article by Trevor Hughes titled More Colleges using green as a selling tool; the author discusses the impact that green programs have on college students deciding where they will attend College or University. It is a safe bet if these students are using this as criteria for selecting where they will spend the next 4 years of their life, that they will also use the same criteria to make their career decisions.
The article goes on to quote results form The Sustainable Endowments Institute survey in 2009 which found that 27% of colleges and universities included sustainability messaging in their admissions process and that in 2010 69% did. That is a 156% increase in one year.
The Sustainable Endowments Institute focuses on areas such as food sourcing, recycling, and energy efficiency.
Quite often when this author asks this question of mid level managers, associates and employees, I just draw a blank stare. If you have this discussion with investors, the eyes just roll and you can see the note caption saying blah, blah, blah.
If you don’t have a plan you can not blame anyone but yourself.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in Business Sourcing, Green eProcurement Practices, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Buying commodities is a real challenge particularly with the environmental changes the globe is going though and the continuing expansion into global markets. Add to that the changing price of fuel and the impact of shipping on the environment and there is a lot that requires measuring beyond price in order to make the right decisions on behalf of your consumers
An organization that can help is TransFair USA who licenses companies to display the Fair Trade Certified label on products that meet strict international Fair Trade standards
The Fair Trade Certified™ label guarantees consumers that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of an agricultural product. Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice, and vanilla.
What do your commodity specifications look like? Ask your e-procurement solutions provider how they can help.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments
Posted in Green eProcurement Practices, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products
Friday, May 28th, 2010
The primary way of doing this is to insure that all of your contracts support (GPP) or green product procurement. This practice should apply to all contracts regardless as to whether they are for a product or a service.
Green Product Procurement places its focus on the items below as a condition of the contract or a condition of doing business with the host company. This process applies to both products and services that a company provides to or for your company, and may also apply to their own companies endeavors to support the environment in their daily business practices as well.
1. Products made from recycled content
2. Biobased products and services
3. Environmentally prefererable
4. Energy efficiency
5. Water efficiency
6. Use of renewable energy sources
7. Use of alternative fuels or vehicles
8. Products do not include Ozone- depleting substances (ODS)
9. Lacking in priority chemicals
10. Use of Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) for electronics.
Make sure your contract templates include environmental language that supports your companies programs and provide the safest products for your customers.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in Business Sourcing, Contract Management, E-procurement Tools, Green eProcurement Practices, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Part III Reasons to Use E-Procurement
Sometimes an explanation can be lost in translation so we have developed the following 20 reasons why utilizing the technology-based e-procurement process can provide significant benefits to you and your company. These are certainly not all of the benefits that can be derived from the use of the e-procurement process, but it is a good starting point.
While this list is not ranked in order of importance, many might argue that not much is more important than the #1 item which is improved earnings.
• Improve net earnings
• Enhance safety
• Reinforce corporate social responsibility
• Find new sources of supply
• Streamline the procurement process
• Elevate supplier accountability to meet your standards
• Improve quality
• Reduce costs in a volatile market
• Ensure a competitive environment
• Buy at market pricing
• Maintain a reliable history for comparison
• Educate suppliers as to how you wish to procure products
• Eliminates questions through effective supplier training
• Maintain consistent product specifications
• Improve negotiation
• Improve carbon footprint
• Simplify your “award of business” process
• Free up time for other tasks
• Process works for all product categories
• Provide a detailed audit trail
E-procurement offers many benefits for a broad range of companies in a variety of industries, assuming that the process selected is a high quality system with an extensive supplier database. We must also assume that the e-procurement process is implemented properly with the purchasing company and that the experienced e-procurement system provider works in concert with the buyer in order to realize optimal cost savings.
Numerous technology advancements have streamlined the e-procurement process and made it more user-friendly and less expensive. A company today can expect to reap significant benefits from e-procurement, including: saving money on purchases, reducing the time involved in the purchasing process, tracking current and archival activities and results, eliminating waste and improving the overall efficiency of the supply chain.
Take advantage of the technology advancements and don’t overlook the benefits of implementing an e-procurement process to strengthen your company’s bottom line.
To download copies of this entire article please use the following link.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, Eprocurement Auction, Global E-procurement, Green eProcurement Practices, Online Procurement, Procurement Auctioning, Procurement Company, Procurement Outsourcing, Procurement Purchasing, Procurement Solutions, Procurement Tool, Product Procurement, Reverse Auction Procurement, Supply Chain Procurement
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Getting Started
First and foremost in getting the e-procurement process right is to select a solution provider or partner that knows what they are doing and is willing to work closely with you during the early part of the process. The e-procurement plan for each company will be somewhat different in order to meet the specific needs of the company. There is however a general order to things that will provide the best opportunity for success.
To realize the most benefit from your e-procurement process, you will need to:
• Develop your strategy
• Complete a detailed discovery
• Learn to understand how to set up your procurement events, even if handled by your provider.
• Use a provider with a high quality process and an extensive database for sourcing suppliers
• Clearly communicate how events will be run or executed to all involved parties • Review the process for sustainability and adjust as necessary
As mentioned earlier, it is incumbent upon your e-procurement solutions provider to be able to assist you in completing these tasks in a reasonable period of time. You should be checking the background of the team and the leadership that will be assisting you to ensure their understanding of your industry such as operations, technology, procurement, warehouse management, logistics, transportation, loss prevention, store management and other functional areas of your business that will be sourcing products and services. It is all about detail because knowledgeable attention to detail will improve quality, reduce costs and ensure the success of your company’s new e-procurement process.
Please join us for part III of this post series on Monday titled Reasons to Use E-Procurement.
To download the entire article please use the following link.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, Eprocurement Auction, Global E-procurement, Green eProcurement Practices, Procurement Auctioning, Procurement Company, Procurement Outsourcing, Procurement Purchasing, Procurement Solutions, Procurement Tool, Product Procurement, Reverse Auction Procurement
Friday, May 7th, 2010
It hardly seems possible that we launched our company two years ago. At the time there were indicators for those paying attention of trouble in the global economy but know one had any idea just how bad it was going to get. In hindsight what a time to launch a company. When customers and business partners asked me why, my response was if you are doing what you believe in and the results you promise are true, then there really is no bad time to launch a business.
Our promise has been the same from day one, to reduce the cost of goods and services regardless of a company’s size or the size of the category being sourced. And, while doing so improve quality, safety and environmental focus. Today, two years later our customers will attest to the fact that we have held true to that promise.
Following is a short list of accomplishments that we are very proud of.
1. Over 700 educational blog posts relative to e-procurement issues of importance.
2. Over 1500 useful procurement related wiki terms and definitions.
3. Added an average of more than one new customer for every month in business.
4. Grew our supplier data base to greater than 380,000 retail suppliers
5. Sourced 100’s of categories from commodities to finished goods and services.
6. Sourced categories as small as $5K with savings > 30%.
7. Sourced categories as high as $80M.
8. Never held an e-negotiation event that did not result in savings.
9. Conducted every process in e-procurement including RFI, RFP and RFQ.
10. Installed our product in Asia in a multi lingual implementation.
11. Averaged over 24% savings over two years.
12. Developed a unique process for sourcing small spends for the retail mid market.
13. Grew our database to over a terabyte of data.
14. Helped companies source with environmental and social consciousness
15. Today released SafeContract™ a fully featured hosted Contract Management System.
To our customers thank you for your support. We endeavor to earn your business every day. To our business partners thank you for your guidance during a tough economic period. To the retail industry our goal is to be your best vehicle for reducing costs and improving earnings with an increased focus on corporate social responsibility.
Thank You.
Posted in B2b Reverse Auction, B2b Supply Chain, Business Sourcing, E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, E-supply Chain, Eprocurement Auction, Global E-procurement, Green eProcurement Practices, Online Procurement, Online Reverse Auction, Procurement Auctioning, Procurement Company, Procurement Outsourcing, Procurement Purchasing, Procurement Solutions, Procurement Tool, Product Procurement, Retail Supply Chain, Reverse Auction, Reverse Auction Procurement, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Procurement
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
When we think about safety and eco standards relative to our supplier partners, I honestly believe that retailers say quietly to themselves; how are we supposed to monitor this with everything else we have to deal with in procuring products?
This issue becomes more complex when you consider that data may be required from your organization relative to your existing suppliers, data from your supplier as to their own interpretation of their adherence and practice and finally other external data that neither organization may have.
Reflecting on safety, the question that retailers should ask all suppliers old or new is pretty simple. What certifications do you carry relative to food safety such as Safe Quality Foods (SQF), Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), American Humane Certified and others? Another area to question should be regarding USDA and FDA inspection history.
Although Green Initiatives fall into the social consciousness area of a company, there are a variety of questions that can be asked in this area as well such as Green Seal, Eco-logo and Green Star certifications and participation in other partnerships that are environmentally focused.
A source that may make it easier for retailers would be to rely on their e-procurement solutions providers for this data if the provider has it included in their portfolio such as a supplier database. E-procurement specification templates can act as a form of scorecard for existing suppliers and potential news sources of supply if they are used as a repository for database queries relative to the above subject matter. This can become a type of automated RFI process which can save retailers a lot effort when trying to find additional sources of supply or when trying to drive cost down with existing suppliers. These data may also help to protect retailers from harmful litigation when products end up not being as safe as promised.
Can your e-procurement solutions provider provide these types of data on demand as a normal byproduct of your standard e-procurement process?
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
Posted in B2b Supply Chain, E-supply Chain, Global E-procurement, Green eProcurement Practices, Procurement Solutions, Retail Supply Chain, Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Procurement
