Archive for the ‘E-supply Chain’ Category

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Tuesday, March 11th, 2014

Today?s post is by Shelly Hayre; Customer Service Representative at SafeSourcing.
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Corporate Social Responsibility is a corporation?s self-regulated responsibility to uphold a certain ethical standard. It can be a specialized department within a business, enforced by Human Resources, or even outsourced. Corporate Social Responsibility can achieve many things for a corporation. It can provide a clear outline regarding the ethics under which the corporation will operate, provide security in risk management, and achieve good faith among shareholders. Corporate Social Responsibility, when governed well, can also provide relief from government restrictions to control any discrepancies.
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There are several advantages to having a strong CSR policy. Public opinion and support can largely be influenced by a company?s CSR operations. For example, employing a department to research and monitor all potential “Green” opportunities within a company?s operations can be viewed admirably by the public. Also, involvement in charitable causes and foundations, will receive positive feedback from consumers and communities. Providing employees with proper work conditions and treatment, along with a standard of quality for the product are all covered in the CSR. All these are huge factors in the sustainability of a corporation, the willingness of potential investors, and trust of current shareholders.

The relationship between a corporations CSR policy and sustainability is parallel. The outline provided by the CSR can actually help establish a distinction in your brand. And, even if a corporation?s CSR doesn?t help them publicly, it can still hurt them internally. Establishing an in-house set of checks and balances provides ethical structure in the everyday operation of a business.

So, how can an eProcurement company help with your CSR needs?

???? The suppliers your company purchases products from can affect your quality of products produced. Garbage in = garbage out!
???? Can your company become more ?green?? Let us help you find better solutions to meet these goals.
???? Is your supplier compliant in all regulations and meeting standards your company holds them to? ? If you have a relationship with a supplier that does not meet your company?s standards and expectations, this will reflect poorly on your company too.

SafeSourcing’s SafeSourceIt?? Supplier Database?contains suppliers who can meet all your expectations. We will ask the right questions to achieve the right results for you.
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For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs or on our ?Risk Free? trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

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What is The Certified Humane Raised & Handled Program?

Wednesday, February 12th, 2014

Todays post is by Ron Southard, CEO of SafeSourcing.

To begin with, we have many farms, processors and agriculturally focused companies as customers and suppliers in our database.

I was reading today in the Arizona Republic about proposed legislation by the states ranchers and farmers that would allow them to police their own farms for livestock cruelty. This is being supported by the Arizona Cattle Growers Association.?In fact if a public citizen takes a picture or video?of such cruelty and does not turn it over to them within 5 days it would be considered a class 1 misdemeanor. Isn’t this kind of like the of watching the henhouse with a shotgun? Nor to mention the constitutionality?of restricting free speech.?

There are programs out there that provide protections against cruelty in factory framing and The Certified Humane Raised & Handled program which is an inspection, certification and labeling program for meat, poultry, egg and dairy products from animals raised to humane care standards is one of them.

According to the Humane Farm Animal Care website over 10 billion animals raised for food in the U.S. annually endure inhumane treatment. Most are confined such that they can?t behave normally. Chickens can?t flap their wings or move. Pigs can?t turn around. Crowding and stress from these conditions compromise animals? immune systems. They must ingest antibiotics regularly to prevent disease. Further, the current system of factory farms causes problems for the people involved, the environment, and consumers, as well as for the animals.

According to Humane Farm Animal Care the impact extends beyond the animals. Overuse of antibiotics in animals is causing more strains of drug-resistant bacteria. The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences estimated the annual cost of treating antibiotic-resistant infections in the U.S. at $30 billion.

What can retail buyers do? Look for and buy products labeled Certified Humane Raised and Handled? and encourage the suppliers of your favorite food brands to become certified and to use Certified Humane Raised and Handled? ingredients in their products.

The SafeSourceIt??Global Supplier Database contains all suppliers that are Certified Humane Raised & Handled and we encourage others to follow this model.?For those companies that are found guilty of cruelty in factory framing practices or violate the laws that are there to protect our livestock, they will be eliminated from our database and not allowed to participate in events for our customers.

Please contact a SafeSourcing customer service representative to learn more about our risk free sourcing trial program.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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How committed are you to your own success with your new e-procurement tools?

Monday, October 21st, 2013

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

Many projects fail when companies implement them. Probably a much higher percentage than you might believe. Just take a look at the new Obama care website.

 It’s no different when implementing new procurement technologies. You can install it behind your firewall. You can use SaaS based tools. You can pick any toolset in the Procure to Pay process from eRFX tools to Contract Management. If you are going to be successful with the launch of your new e-procurement tools, you have to be committed to the process. This really is about nothing more than how prepared you are as a procurement knowledge worker regarding procurement in general and your category, product or service specifically. If you are committed, then you should be prepared. There really is no excuse to not be.

In order to be successful at e-procurement or the online or SaaS based e-RFX process, a procurement knowledge worker has to be committed to the process. First of all this means they have to understand the process. Beyond training in tool utilization, this suggests a willingness to share information relative their buying patterns as well as what their expectations are for selecting a new supplier to work with. All of this must be shared with their new solution provider.  Category managers, buyers and other knowledge workers that interface with the supply chain should be communicating regularly with their incumbent suppliers regarding current market conditions, quality, delivery and other potential pitfalls as part of their job.  If issues do exist they need to be discussed and documented so they can be reviewed with your new e-procurement solutions provider and included in the e-RFX setup and strategy. 

To be committed to the procurement process, procurement knowledge workers must be prepared to answer questions from suppliers even if the answers are to be issued through your solutions provider.  If you act as though you are not committed to this new process, your incumbent supplier as well as potential new sources of supply will pick up on that immediately. 

The bad news for your company is that if a buyer or category manager acts as though they do not support this new process, holds side bar conversations that mitigate its use or raises other red flags in the supplier community, you will not get the best pricing, you will not get the best quality and you will not have the best supplier relationships into the future.

If you tools are not working for you, contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager for assistance.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Suppliers, what makes you different?

Tuesday, October 15th, 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.

 

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Hand Dryers Revisited

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

Today’s post is by Steve Schwerin, account manager at SafeSourcing. 

A few days ago, we wrote about sourcing hand dryers.  Hand dryers are something that people probably don’t think about often, but probably should, so here is another reminder.  I suspect that most everyone likes the idea of hand dryers in restrooms.  They like the fact that they are potentially more sanitary and they like the fact that there is no paper waste.  Well, I suppose they would think this if they were actually thinking about hand dryers.  If there was ever a list of certifiably boring topics, for most people hand dryers would be on that list.
Going back to the IDEA of hand dryers, they just haven’t quite lived up to expectations, I would propose.  Who doesn’t remember walking into a McDonalds or Wendy’s bathroom and seeing that ubiquitous white hand dryer on the wall with that round metal press button that probably came nice and shiny and  chrome plated out of the box, but for some reason was pitted and a little intimidating by the millionth press?  How did it get that way?  Are people banging their rings on it?  Worse, did those initial dryers ever really get your hands dry?  There were a lot of reasons not to think about hand dryers.

Those days are over.  You probably already know this.  One day you noticed what may have been an Excel Xlerator hanging on the wall as you stopped to wash your hands.  It blew air so fast and so loud you probably thought it might hurt a little.  There was some fun in this.  Fun in hand drying?  Imagine.  Today there are wondrous creations like the Dyson Airblade which boasts that your hands will be dry within 12 seconds.  Did you know that these modern marvels don’t even use heated air?  They force the air off of your hands by sheer will power.  Actually, it is air power, but if there is some will involved, I won’t hold it against them.  Dyson, for example, claims that the air velocity at the nozzle of their Airblade is 400 miles per hour!

Dyson is not the only game in town for high speed hand dryers.  Explore other options.  As the saying goes, the best time to act is yesterday.  For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs, including hand dryers, or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative at 888-261-9070.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

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The Rising Interest in Supply Chain Degrees

Monday, August 12th, 2013

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

Over the past few years there has been an increase in the interest of college students and business professionals to pursue degrees and certifications in Supply Chain Management.   As the current workforce makeup changes and the landscape of business adjusts to new variables it is no wonder that some majors like Supply Chain Management are getting more attention to the point where some students are being turned away due to high demand for degrees in this area.  Today we will look at a few of the reasons this rise in interest is happening across the U.S.

Increase in demand – In recent studies by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, Supply Chain majors are getting job offers out of college 15% to 20% more frequently than their Business Management and Accounting peers.  This increase in demand for college graduates has likewise created an increase in salaries for Supply Chain degree holders.  With the increase in pay and high placement levels, the interest in Supply Chain degrees has caused some universities to turn students away from their programs as they plan to increase capacity with more classes and more business school teachers.

Changes in Supply Chain Process – It is no surprise that the increase in interest in Supply Chain degrees and in job openings has paralleled the changes in Supply Chain Management in general as new eProcurement tools, new processes and new emphasis on cutting expenses in this area have begun to evolve and grow.  Where companies at one time had only a few associates employed on their procurement teams, if they had designated teams at all, these same companies are beginning to expand the methods by which they source their raw material, products and services.  This change in process has created a focus and a need for qualified professionals to enter organizations and help lead the company to more control over direct and indirect spend.

New Availability of Programs – Over the last 20 years universities and accredited organizations have increased the number of classes and degrees they offer in the Supply Chain Management adding both frequency and the variety of majors to focus on specific areas of concentration.  International sourcing, sourcing services, IT spend management, direct spend management, indirect spend management, contract management and vendor management are all new areas students can choose to focus on in pursuing their degrees.  The number of certification programs within Procurement and the Supply Chain spaces has also increased as organizations and schools continue to offer new opportunities for professionals to increase their education in new sourcing processes and techniques.  This increase in choices has created renewed interest in the Supply Chain as a focus of continued education for thousands of new students and existing professionals.

For more information about SafeSourcing or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

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What does SafeSourcing do in order to bring value to your company’s sourcing projects?

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Today’s post is by Ryan Melowic; Assistant Vice President of COE at SafeSourcing.  

Currently, I am preparing for a presentation with a potential customer who runs multiple restaurants and a commissary.  I want them to thoroughly understand the value that SafeSourcing could bring them during the process.  Therefore I’m going to break it down for everyone below.

First and foremost SafeSourcing brings deep and broad based category knowledge.  Whether we engage with the potential customer on restaurant supplies, food they use to create their menu or negotiating the way they buy power.  SafeSourcing has knowledge in typically all categories because our team knows the industry.

Second, SafeSourcing knows who the key vendors are in the industry.  We work to constantly update our database which has over 430,000 vetted suppliers.  In the database we track safety certifications, key company details, product offering detail and contact detail based on region.   Our clients value SafeSourcing for the vendors we provide for their eProcurment events that they might not otherwise engage.

Third, our specifications are extremely detailed and believe are second to n0 one.  We work with our host companies to properly spec out the items that will be involved with an eProcurment event.  Since we are familiar with the key requirements needed to properly build the specification in a large variety of industries, we understand the questions that need to be answered by the host in order to create a complete but user friendly specification.   Additionally, we work to understand how the host currently procures their products so we can duplicate it electronically but in most cases improve upon it.

Finally, our process works!  We have many years of successful eProcurement experience in a wide variety of expense, capital, and services and for resale types of events to support our claims.  Just the fact that the typically return on investment in our services is greater than 18X speaks volumes as to our processes.

I can’t wait to meet with this new potential client as I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t give us a chance to show them what we can do. And we guarantee that they will be cost neutral in the process

For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

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What does SafeSourcing do in order to bring value to your company?s sourcing projects?

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Today?s post is by Ryan Melowic; Assistant Vice President of COE at SafeSourcing.??

Currently, I am preparing for a presentation with a potential customer who runs multiple restaurants and a commissary.? I want them to thoroughly understand the value that SafeSourcing could bring them during the process.? Therefore I?m going to break it down for everyone below.

First and foremost SafeSourcing brings deep and broad based category knowledge.? Whether we engage with the potential customer on restaurant supplies, food they use to create their menu or negotiating the way they buy power.? SafeSourcing has knowledge in typically all categories because our team knows the industry.

Second, SafeSourcing knows who the key vendors are in the industry.? We work to constantly update our database which has over 430,000 vetted suppliers.? In the database we track safety certifications, key company details, product offering detail and contact detail based on region.?? Our clients value SafeSourcing for the vendors we provide for their eProcurment events that they might not otherwise engage.

Third, our specifications are extremely detailed and believe are second to?n0 one.? We work with our host companies to properly spec out the items that will be involved with an eProcurment event.? Since we are familiar with the key requirements needed to properly build the specification in a large variety of industries, we understand the questions that need to be answered by the host in order to create a complete but user friendly specification.?? Additionally, we work to understand how the host currently procures their products so we can duplicate it electronically but in most cases improve upon it.

Finally, our process works!? We have many years of successful eProcurement experience in a wide variety of expense, capital, and services and for resale types of events to support our claims.? Just the fact that the typically return on investment in our services is greater than 18X speaks volumes as to our processes.

I?can?t wait to meet with this new potential client as I can?t think of any reason why they wouldn?t give us a chance to show them what we can do. And we guarantee that they will be cost neutral in the process

For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs or on our ?Risk Free? trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

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Companies can have continuing success when re-running prior e-procurement events.

Monday, March 18th, 2013

Today?s post is by Ron Southard CEO at SafeSourcing Inc..

There are creative techniques that can insure the sustainability of your strategic sourcing or reverse auction events after your first successful run. Since you have already conducted or should have conducted your detailed discovery and analysis, a robust supplier database such as the SafeSourceIt? Global Supplier Database should permit you to do the following.

Conduct a detailed supplier discovery
Rank suppliers
Size
Experience
References
Environmental certifications
Safety Certifications
Coverage area
Develop a three year supplier game plan
Develop a three year time line? for all categories
Identify suppliers for each event over the three years
Develop a three year supplier rotation schedule for those suppliers.
Role play internally? each year supplier scenario for each category
Ask the following questions
Who will you invite and why
Keep in mind the unique benefits of distributors and manufacturers
Discuss award the business strategies such a multi-vendor or regional
Review alternative scenarios
Review impact on non-awarded suppliers
Determine which suppliers will be invited back and why such as prior incumbents, recent winners and? strong regionals
Determine what new suppliers from your database search will be invited for the next rotation.
Don?t invite too many, don?t invite to few.

If you?d like to learn more about creative strategies to keep your supplier participation fresh, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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No matter what our current government leaders say, the economy is still terrible.

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

This author still can not believe how many companies, buyers and category managers do not advocate for the use of modern e-procurement tools.

The use of these tools preserves and creates jobs as well as generating many other benefits that your business is not receiving today.

The lack of use can really only be one or two reasons at this point. First is that you or your procurement team just go to work and do your job and don’t really care one way or the other. Second is that you do not stay up to date in your trade and have very little influence within your company. If this is not true, why are you still writing your own RFI’s and RFP’s for a small group of suppliers?

Maybe now there is a final chance to step up and try or recommend using e-procurement tools including reverse auctions? Who knows, maybe you’ll save enough money to save someone’s job, hire someone new or insure that your job will still be there when next years planning is complete.

Although they may not impact your job directly, the reduction of cost of goods, expenses and preservation of capital are all immediately achievable if you’ll just take a look.

A customer recently told me that they would not be adding any new jobs to their procurement department next year. In fact they have already more than doubled the size of their departments staff to drive  down costs through the use  of the SafeSourceIt™ family of procure to pay tools. This customer went on to say that others in other departments will in fact be able to keep their jobs as a result of the work we’ve done together. So in the worst economy since many of us have been alive, this customer has added jobs, protected jobs, saved significant money, improved quality with the use of SafeSourcing products. Another benefit is that we also continue to add jobs to support our customers during this same time.
In addition to all of the benefits listed above, here are some additional quotes from a CEO and his team that watched their first reverse auction.
1. “This was pretty simple to do”
2. “If we hired someone we could do these ourselves with you guys”
3. “This is fun”
4. “You mean the reports are already available”
5. “I love the sports concept”
6. “It was easy to follow the marquis and what was going on from one screen”
7. “The multiple color schemes were great”
8. “I can’t believe how fast you guys set this up”
9. “We saved that much money and only have to pay what we discussed”
10. “Can we do another one today”
11. “I may get a promotion out of this”
12. “I love that calculator at the end of the bid process”
13. “I like all of the supplier data that was accessible during the auction”
14. “Now I know how the big guys get the pricing they do”

It’s too bad our current political combatants for the highest office in our land can not be this detailed during their debates.

Why not join others that have come a little late to the party. You can still benefit because today’s tools are easier to use, more interactive, maintain your attention during an auction, integrate gaming technology to keep it fun and are lower cost than their predecessors. If you happen to have already been doing this for years, why not find an easier way or do it less expensively.

If you would like to have fun, save money and do it quickly, please visit us at www.safesoucing.com.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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