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Archive for the ‘Supply Chain Procurement’ Category

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Trains, Planes and Trucks oh my!

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

Today’s post is by Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing.

Oh well I tried, my title is almost like the title of the movie of a similar title, but in our case automobiles don’t provide much help. The question however is a good one and unfortunately many companies are not exploring what may be the least expensive alternative today. And that would be (Your guess was wrong) TRAINS. Surprised?

Companies that are looking to optimize their shipping lanes or even their entire logistics structure face significant hurdles.  Selecting the correct business partner  or partners is a huge challenge,   as vetting them includes so many different items that can include items like Track & Trace capability, shipment visibility, driver turnover, certifications, fuel surcharges and much much more. But don’t forget to take a hard look at Trains.

The price of shipping your freight by rail is relatively inexpensive and the volume of freight being shipped this way is projected to grow by half to $27.5B by 2040 according to an article in the March 27th issue of the Wall Street Journal titled Boom Times on the Tracks: Rail Capacity, Spending Soar.

This may be a surprise to many as most procurement professional tend to think of rail as old school. Well, while you may have been looking the other way, technology has been upgraded, infrastructure has been upgraded and total tonnage has increased across a broad number of categories.

Who are the major players in this space?  The names may be familiar. Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern to name a few.

If you like to learn more about how to optimize your shipping needs, please contact a Safesourcing customer services account manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, Supply Chain Procurement

Suppliers, what makes you different?

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

One of the biggest Supply Chain topics for 2013, as it is every year, is the concern over rising costs and shrinking profits, and unfortunately this is the stigma attached to many eProcurement tools and practices.  We tell our customers and the suppliers who participate in our events it is about more than just price; it is about the overall value that is presented.

Today we will be looking at ways that suppliers can distinguish themselves from their competition in areas other than price.

Labeling and Packaging – Labeling and packaging are one of the big expenses in For Resale items for many retailers especially when it comes to Private Label goods.  Suppliers who are willing to work with their customers to develop packaging that will streamline the receiving and sales process can gain a big advantage over their competitors in a way they can leverage to great value.

Training & Professional Services – One of the easiest ways for suppliers to begin to separate themselves from the pack is in the area of professional services and training.  For the supplier these services can generate a value to their customers that far exceeds the actual cost of the service itself.  In this case it is a win-win situation where the customer gets valuable services while the supplier gets an opportunity to continue to build on the face-to-face relationship in a useful manner.

Guaranteed Service Level Agreement (SLA) Metrics – The bottom line in any Supplier-Customer relationship is not just price or “bells and whistles” it is about how well the supplier delivered what they promised, how they dealt with situations when they didn’t deliver as promised and what they are willing to risk if they fail to achieve on the Service Level they promised.  Getting the best price means nothing if the product or service is of low quality or is late.  The best suppliers OVER service their customers and are willing to stake a portion of their cost on their ability to achieve that level of service every time.  These guarantees may not always translate to your bottom-line in a positive way, but not having them in place and receiving poor quality will definitely impact it in a negative way.

For assistance on helping you work with your suppliers on the extra value they can offer you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.

We look forward to your comments.

 

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, E-supply Chain, Retail Supply Chain, Supply Chain Procurement

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 from Safesourcing; Your GLOBAL SOURCING PARTNER!

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

picture of world

If you’d like to learn more about alternative sources of supply around the world or locally, contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager to learn more about SafeSourceIt™ our 427,000 global supplier database and let us translate it into increased profits for you.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in E-supply Chain, Global E-procurement, Supply Chain Procurement

Think about Santa’s Logistical Challenges.

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

Approximately 33% of the world population is Christian and although only sixteen countries officially declare it as their state religion, dozens and dozens have percentages of their population as practitioners. Talk about a logistical nightmare.

Now if geographical challenges were not enough, we have to also consider that the Christian population of the world is about two billion people. That’s a whole lot of zeros even if Santa Clause (aka – St. Nicholas, Sinter Class, Father Christmas, Babbo Natale, Papa Noel etc.) were to eliminate 10% as naughty. So just how does one man and one sleigh and eight tiny reindeer deliver all of those presents in one night across multiple time zones when the primary fuel used is hay Green Fuel Too)? That’s a good question, so we checked with both Federal Express and UPS, and collectively they ship about 4.4 million packages per day with 3.4 million of those going through Federal Express alone. That means they handle about 80% annually of what jolly old Saint Nick and his eight tiny reindeer handle in just one night

So to answer the question of just how does one man and one sleigh and eight tiny reindeer deliver all of those presents in one night? Personally this author believes it has to be a little faith and a whole lot of magic. The same type of faith used to convince Virginia O’Hanlon that there is indeed a Santa Claus in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun when her friends had told her that he did not exist.

In these times of economic upheaval, global political unrest and unconscionable acts of violence that surrounds us all, don’t we all need a little faith and maybe a little magic too?

So from the famous poem Twas the Night before Christmas written in 1822 by Clement Clarke Moore. “Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! , on Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”Here’s hoping all of your holidays are filled with magic.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in Supply Chain Procurement

Thanksgiving is really a story of a supply chain found and developed!

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012

One hundred and two pilgrims and crew arrived in Massachusetts after a 3,000 mile trip from England on the Mayflower. It is safe to say that as a result of that distance there was no existing supply chain to leverage, so one had to be developed and quickly. This began with basic hunting and gathering and later included trading with the areas indigenous peoples known as the Wampanoag’s for corn, seed and foraging and planting techniques.

The Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate today really stems from the feast held in the autumn of 1621. Since the pilgrims had only arrived on November 21st of 1620 they had really not been there long enough to develop a fully reliable and renewable supply source. They had however established collaborative relationships with the local Wampanoag people who became regular trading partners and who helped them celebrate the colony’s first successful harvest.

The most detailed description of the “First Thanksgiving” comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1621:”Our harvest  being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.

The fowl referred to above certainly could have included a wide range of fowl that was plentiful in the area such as wild turkey, pheasant, goose, duck, and partridge and unfortunately by today’s standards even eagles.

The pilgrims probably didn’t have pies or much of anything sweet at the harvest feast because they did not yet have ovens. They had brought some sugar with them on the Mayflower but by the time of the first Thanksgiving, the supply had probably run out.

Their meals also included many different types of meats. Vegetable dishes, one of the staples of today’s Thanksgiving, didn’t really play a large part in the feast. Other items that may have been on the menu certainly included sea food such as clams and lobster, Indian corn, wild fruits and nuts, meats such as venison and seal and certain dry herbs and spices.

The Thanksgiving meal that has today become a national holiday is a symbol of supply chain cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, Supply Chain Procurement

The pilgrims also ate a lot of seafood during their Thanksgiving festival.

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012

I was watching television report lat night about the safety of gulf seafood as a result of the BP oil spill from last year. Don’t worry, most of our seafood comes from elsewhere.

Do you ever wonder where the sea and lake food that you eat comes from and whether or not it is safe to eat? Are the seafood buyers at your local grocery or restaurant concerned for you?

Almost three years ago during my first post I promised that The SafeSourcing Blog would call attention to and comment on safety concerns within the global supply chain that may impact your customers, employees, families and other stake holders. I’m sure like me; many of you have been impacted by safety inconsistencies in our supply chain. Personally I have had issues like this impact me, members of my family and my pets.

I recently was watching a little snippet from YouTube attributed to ABC News about the origin and quality or lack there of regarding seafood we consume. As a kid growing up on the east coast near Cape Cod I kind of always assumed that all fish was fresh fish from our Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf waters. Well today, more than 80% of our seafood comes from foreign countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, China and Costa Rica to name a few. Of this, only 1% is tested by the FDA and most of it fails inspection because it includes chemicals, poisons, antibiotics and other additives and is even in some cases farmed in unsanitary conditions. The primary reason for the import to locally fished discrepancy is as you might suspect; price.

This author would hope that all seafood and lake food buyers for our restaurant and grocery chains would ask their suppliers a few of simple questions.
 
1. Where is the seafood you are selling us coming from?
2. Where will the incoming shipments be tested before you deliver it to us?
3. Is it safe for our consumers to eat this fish?

If the answer is not to your liking and documented, don’t buy it. Your consumers will thank you.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, Sourcing Safe Foods, Supply Chain Procurement

Let’s play supplier poker!

Friday, October 26th, 2012

If this were a real poker game, I’d raise our big supplier data versus your existing supplier data.

Locating, managing and updating supplier information that companies choose to do business with has never been more difficult. How many companies that you used to do business with 4-5 years ago are no longer in business? How many new companies have taken their place? I already know the answer you are going to give me. It’s I don’t know.

We keep hearing about big data. With new regulatory requirements emerging daily, economies failing, the supply chain shrinking in some places and expanding in others,  changing  safety factors and  environmental factors ( think LEEDS), detailed supplier information and traceability are but a few of the issues that require regular maintenance in order to mitigate a company’s risk.

Solution Providers like SafeSourcing that provide supplier databases (SafeSourceIt™) that are part of automating the procurement process, need to step up and make sure that their data support these changes on a regular basis to the greatest extent possible by providing tools that interacts with both regulatory agencies and suppliers to insure consumer safety and environmental impact as more new sources of supply and new products enter the supply chain on a daily basis.

Actions that solution providers can take should include but are not limited to:

1. Monitor daily alert data as to product recalls and safety warnings.
2. Trace warnings back to the original source of supply automatically and maintain history.
3. Require that suppliers meet certain safety certifications in order to participate in their database.
4. Require that suppliers meet required environmental certifications or programs in order to participate in their database
5. Provide a regular purge of suppliers that do not comply with necessary standards.
6. Validate the entire database regularly for companies no longer in business
7. Adhere to a strict RFI process for new suppliers requesting participation in their database.
8. Provide a rating system for suppliers that are offered to companies as new sources of supply.
9. Monitor regulatory agencies such as ISO for new standards and include them as further requirements in supplier databases.
10.Conduct on going category research for evolving sources of supply.
11.Compare your best customers GL to your database for additions deletions.

Ask your solution provider what their process is to grow manage and maintain their supplier database for your benefit.

If you’d like more information on the SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database of over 427,000 cleansed global sources of supply, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, Supply Chain Procurement

Are you keeping track of all of the new supplier invitees from your e-RFX initiatives?

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

So how would you go about keeping track of these suppliers, or finding new ones if you had to?

Do you have to be a student of the database industry to understand what may be available to you without having to do a lot of work? At the end of the day a database is just a list albeit a sophisticated list with lots of tables and joins and other database features that allow for the combination and use of data.

As an example, when looking to build a retail supplier database there is certain information you require in order for the data to be believable. UDDI (Yu-di) is an open industry initiative, sponsored by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), enabling businesses to publish service listings and discover each other and define how the services or software applications interact over the Internet. These service listings can take a number of different forms such as business registrations, for UDDI they are in the following formats.

  1. White Pages — address, contact, and known identifiers;
  2. Yellow Pages — industrial categorizations based on standard taxonomies;
  3. Green Pages — technical information about services exposed by the business.

Combining these data which is readily available from a variety of sources provides a great start. From there the challenge to add other attributes that are important to you such as certifications, sic codes, detailed company descriptions, sales figures, products carried, experience, ratings etc.

This author has always believed that reinventing the wheel is a misguided way to accomplish development initiatives and with all of the open source available on the market today and the cost of IT talent as high as it is we have to explore these alternatives to core development if time to market is a critical success factor.

So there you have it, my thinking and process for building our database. The next question is how we keep it fresh an updated. And that my friends are a trade secret.

So, unless you feel you have the time, energy or resources to do something similar, why not reach out to SafeSourcing and let us provide you access to our SafeSourceIt™ Database or find suppliers for you that may be right in your own back yard and you don’t even know about..

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in B2b Supply Chain, Supply Chain Procurement

When do you buy lobsters?

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

You might have heard that the lobstermen in the northeast are experiencing tough times right now due to the extremely low prices they are able to get per pound recently. Due to environmental factors, there has been a huge change this year causing an increase in the supply of lobster.

This scenario is a real life example of how environmental and other external factors have the ability to dramatically affect the cost of the products that you are purchasing every day. From a procurement standpoint, there are steps that professionals can take that will help enable your company to protect itself from price increases and also to benefit from price decreases caused by these factors. So what can you do?

1. Ensure that your contracts contain a mechanism to tie your prices to the market. Indices are a great way to be certain that your pricing will remain consistent with current market conditions.
2. Do not include evergreen language. The terms are typically much worse than you would get through your existing eProcurement process.
3. Engage your eProcurement partner to monitor market conditions. They will help you determine when you should take your category to market.
4. Listen to and seek out seasonal recommendations. Reliable historical data is available that will provide great suggestions of the optimal timeframes to consider categories.

To learn more about your seafood sourcing needs, contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Foods, Supply Chain Procurement

Is your procurement team keeping up with the times?

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Why not apply the same strategy that you would for your personal health when reviewing your first six month e-procurement results.

Listed below  are  12 questions that companies can ask themselves with the resulting answer going into either an assets or liabilities column in order to provide a semi-annual health check of your e-procurement progress or lack there of. Hopefully the former.

1. How many new suppliers were reviewed to provide new or existing products and services during the past six months?
2. How many of those suppliers were actually selected to provide new products or services during the past six months?
3. How much of your total spend was assigned to e-procurement tools such as RFI’s RFP’s and Reverse Auctions or RFQ’s.
4. How much of your private label spend was assigned to e-procurement tools such as RFI’s, RFP’s and Reverse Auctions or RFQ’s.
5. How much of your services spend was assigned to e-procurement tools such as RFI’s, RFP’s and Reverse Auctions or RFQ’s.
6. How much of your supplies spend was assigned to e-procurement tools such as RFI’s, RFP’s and Reverse Auctions or RFQ’s.
7. How many of your category managers and or buyers have on line accessible product and services specifications for each product or service they buy.
8. How much time is now being invested in gathering existing or new product specifications?
9. How much were your total cost of goods reduced during the last 6 months through the use of e-procurement tools.
10. How much was your gross margin improved by reduction in cost of goods during the last 6 months as a result of using e-procurement tools.
11. How much time do your category managers and suppliers spend doing supplier research weekly.
12. How many suppliers have been contributing greater than 75% of specific category volume for a period of greater than 5 years?
13. Of those suppliers, how many provide multiple products and or services to your company?
14. Are you satisfied with the product safety of all products from all sources?
15. How much was total company net profit improved by the use of e-procurement tools last six months?

It’s important to remember with six months left to go in the year that if a company assigns just ten percent (10%) of their cost of goods to e-procurement tools, net earnings can improve by up to 82% or more. You can not accomplish this without advanced tools that extend your productivity.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Procurement

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