Archive for the ‘Sourcing Safe Products’ Category

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Bankruptcy is not fake news, and you might be next if you don’t pay attention.

Thursday, November 9th, 2023

 

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

I read an article today on TheStreet.com by Kirk O’Neil titled Beloved fast-food chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Quite frankly it took a while to figure out what chain the article was referring to because it spent a lot of the article talking about the problems Rite Aide is having who also filed for Chapter 11. Then it went on to talk about  a furniture company that had to close 27 stores in 14 states and ultimately had to file for Chapter 7 liquidation.

The article did finally mention a restaurant chain that had to file for chapter 11 because sales have not recovered from the Covid Pandemic. How often have we heard this?

The fact is the fast-food sector of the retail is suffering, the model has changed quite a bit. How often do you go inside your favorite location to order your food (it is faster). Most of the takeaway or to go traffic is done through the drive-up windows. I’m pretty sure we are going to start seeing them again in the c-store space as they continue to try and capitalize on fresh food offerings, some of which have become outstanding. Even food service distributors are shifting their attention to the c-store vertical as a new source of business.

So, what’s the point? There is a lot of pain in all retail, it’s a war for the customers reduced spending. Thank the FED, The current Democrat Administration, and the Banks for that. However, where there is pain there is opportunity. If you look for it, it may just save some jobs or pay for that new self-checkout because you can’t find enough staff  for the shift work in 24-hour operations.

If you ask, you can find lower prices on just about everything. Capital Projects, Cost of Goods and Expense. Here’s the thing, you are understaffed for the job you have to do. There are other projects that the company will never get to.  You don’t have the time to do it yourself. That’s where SafeSourcing comes in. We know the categories as well or better than you do. We know where all of the suppliers are and have relationships with them, that you do not.

If you wan to reduce costs, I mean really reduce them so you can afford to do other things, Contact SafeSourcing. We guarantee our work, and our ROI is often greater than 10X and immediate.

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Generally Recognized as Safe or (GRAS)

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

At SafeSourcing, suppliers that are part of our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database are held accountable to many different certifications that support safety in the supply chain. Please read on to learn a little bit more about Generally Recognized as Safe

“GRAS” is an acronym for the phrase Generally Recognized as Safe. Under sections 201(s) and 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), any substance that is intentionally added to food is a food additive, and is subject to premarket review and approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excluded from the definition of a food additive.

Under sections 201(s) and 409 of the Act, and FDA‘s implementing regulations in 21 CFR 170.3 and 21 CFR 170.30, the use of a food substance may be GRAS either through scientific procedures or, for a substance used in food before 1958, through experience based on common use in food.

  • Under 21 CFR 170.30(b), general recognition of safety through scientific procedures requires the same quantity and quality of scientific evidence as is required to obtain approval of the substance as a food additive and ordinarily is based upon published studies, which may be corroborated by unpublished studies and other data and information.
  • Under 21 CFR 170.30(c) and 170.3(f), general recognition of safety through experience based on common use in foods requires a substantial history of consumption for food use by a significant number of consumers.

If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can assist in properly helping to insure your suppliers are adhering to all safety concerns,  please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

References: Http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodIngredientsPackaging/GenerallyRecognizedasSafeGRAS/default.htm

 

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What is the benefit of a ranked reverse auction?

Thursday, June 29th, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

A tool that can be effective when running a reverse auction is called ranking. While this feature is not used all the time, it can be of strategic importance when trying to get to the best net landed cost for products that have very slim margins at the supplier level. The feature can be set up to let all suppliers know where they rank or a select number of suppliers like the top five (5). The feature can also be turned on for a specific time during the auction like in the last 5 minutes. As an example, you might have tight bidding for a particular commodity-based product. Only the low bid vendor knows that they are indeed the low bid and resultingly is not entering any more price adjustments. If ranking is deployed, vendors can find out if they are 2nd or 3rd etc. and this may entice them to try one more or make multiple more entries if their desire to win the business is strong enough. This is particularly true if the bidding activity has been robust to a point with the low-price indicator switching back and forth between multiple vendors.

It is the deep understanding of markets along with the use of tools like ranking amongst others that are included in strategy reviews with our customers that allows SafeSourcing to regularly exceed customer expectations across all spend areas. Our average annual savings against all categories are more than 24% beyond what you can negotiate on your own.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite.

For more information, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Associate.

 

 

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You can still improve gross margin and net earnings substantially in this market.

Monday, June 26th, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

Example: Prove me wrong if you think you can!

Assume a $150M Retail Company with industry earnings of just one percent or $1.5M. Additionally cost of goods for this company is 70 percent or $105M. Let’s also assume this company were to only source ten percent of their for-resale COGS or above the gross margin line spend or roughly $11M. With below industry average savings of only ten percent, total savings generated would be $1.1M which is a direct impact to net profitability. If all other segments of the P&L perform to plan and all savings are recovered during the same business calendar year net profitability would increase to $2.6M or a 73% improvement.

NO BS Here! If you don’t believe me, I will be glad to personally sit down with your CEO or CFO and Finance team and prove it to you! Imagine what else you could do to earnings if you also attacked your Expense in the same way.

Companies can begin with SafeSourcing almost immediately (SaaS/Cloud offering) with no risk (Cost Neutral Pilots) and no IT involvement at all, why don’t more companies use eProcurement tools. That’s a great question! Probably because they are embarrassed to not already be getting these results.

If this author were you, I just could not ignore this type of opportunity. If you’d like to learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Account Manager. Or me.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

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Why don’t you use Reverse Auctions?

Friday, June 23rd, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

 Understanding a Reverse Auction according to Investopedia

In a reverse auction, the buyer puts up a request for a required good or service. Sellers then place bids for the amount they are willing to be paid for the good or service, with the winner being the seller prepared to accept the lowest amount.

Reverse auctions gained popularity with the emergence of internet-based online auction tools that enabled multiple sellers to connect with a buyer on a real-time basis. Today, reverse auctions are used by large corporations and government entities as a competitive procurement method for raw materials, supplies, and services like accounting and customer service.

Here’s a real simple truth! If you are not using this tool, you are paying way more than you might think. And your team cannot get anywhere near the pricing that reverse auctions generate. I watched a large company yesterday reduce the cost of any office supply category by 31% beyond what they negotiated.

You can view my comments from an earlier post titled Just what do we mean by eProcurement White Glove Services that supports why our savings average over 24% better than what companies can do on their own most of the time.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. That includes our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database  that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

 

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Specifications?

Wednesday, June 21st, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR and Administration at SafeSourcing

We all buy things, and we generally look for the best deal we can get, but how do you know you are getting the right thing? Recently a friend tried out a new shopping website and found a great deal on a car jack. This is something that we could all use if we do our own maintenance on cars or just want to be prepared if we need to change a tire. This particular site offered what seem like a reasonable price, much less than you usually see, but not low enough to trigger red flags. So, the car jack was purchased, and they awaited its arrival.

A few weeks later when it arrived, this car jack was approximately three inches high. This was some sort of tiny model of a car jack, and well above the price something like this would seemingly go for. After double checking the website and reviewing the details, this car jack was indeed just three inches high and through some creative photography, no one would be the wiser that it wasn’t full size unless you read the specifications.

There is an important lesson here. You must read specifications carefully to know that what you are purchasing is the right product. This will help you get what you need, but also help you to compare and understand any differences within that category of product. Sometimes by reading about what you think you need; do you discover you may in fact need something else.

This idea goes for sourcing as well. When looking for a product or service, your specifications should be clear and detailed, because otherwise you might get a miniature car jack that only works for small model cars. A procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can help you come up with the right specifications for the product or service you need and also help to find those that would be a good fit in providing that service of product.

For more information on what the SafeSourcing team can offer you, or on our Risk-Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

 

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Humane Raised and Handled

Tuesday, July 12th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

When I drive across the country to visit our offices in Ohio, I pass many processing plants that are surrounded by thousands of cattle awaiting processing. I have even seen bulldozers in use. How are you sure that all is being done to insure the safe handling of our livestock resource? This may be particularly difficult because of the recent pandemic, but it is no less important for continuing humane treatment. Read on about this important program and be kind

The Humane Farm Animal Care was established to promote and administer its certification and labeling program, Certified Humane Raised & Handled, for meat, dairy, eggs and poultry raised under its animal care standards in the USA. It is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors and retains a Scientific Committee which includes scientists and veterinarians. The organization is endorsed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States.

The Certified Humane Raised & Handled program is an inspection, certification, and labeling program for meat, poultry, egg, and dairy products from animals raised under humane care standards. Some companies, like Wile Hog Farms, practice none of these. Therefore, some companies, like SafeSourcing, will exclude those companies from databases, events, or any kind of business.

Please visit www.certifiedhumane.org for more information.

SafeSourcing is an eprocurement company that operates across multiple industries. As such we have specific experience in almost any commodity, service or capital related spend. Our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database  requires our suppliers to adhere to several certifications including Humane Raised and Handled where appropriate.  To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

Source: Wikipedia.com

 

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Are you aware of CertiPur-US® Certification?

Thursday, June 30th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

Flexible polyurethane foam is widely used as a cushioning material in the production of many specialty items that we all use every day. The question is what type of standard are adhered to when they are manufactured and does it support emerging circular economies.

According to the CertiPUR-US® website “the CertiPUR-US® program was developed to provide the comfort and confidence of knowing the flexible polyurethane foam meets standards for content, emissions and durability and are analyzed by independent, accredited laboratories. Today, foam producers from all countries may participate in the program, as long as they meet our rigorous certification guidelines.

CertiPUR-US approved foams are:

  1. Low emissions (VOCs) for indoor air quality
  2. Made without ozone depleters
  3. Made without PBDEs
  4. Made without mercury, lead, and heavy metals
  5. Made without formaldehyde
  6. Made without prohibited phthalates

If you’d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can assist in properly helping to ensure your current suppliers or new ones from our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database are using certifications like CertiPur-US®, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

 

 

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Do the Right Thing!

Tuesday, March 8th, 2022

 

Today’s post is from Ronald D Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

I normally try to write about three hundred words in my posts to provide sufficient detail regarding the subject covered. Today I will not because I have a simple question and a simple answer for you.

What should consumers in the United States that support Ukraine in their defense of their homeland against Russia’s Invasion do to companies that do not honor your personal desires, or those of the every other country on the planet?

EXAMPLE:

Shell Continues to Buy Russian Oil After Vowing to Stop Russia Investments

BY SCOTT MCDONALD ON 3/5/22 AT 8:47 PM EST

Answer: BOYCOTT all SHELL stations and stores in the United States.

 If you would like more information regarding SafeSourcing, please click the link.

131 Words! Enough Said! Do the right thing.

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This post is from a year ago! I know that your costs are going UP! And they still are!

Friday, September 24th, 2021

 

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

Its amazing to me that with all the increases in spending resulting and continuing  from COVID-19 Pandemic, some of which would have been classified as tail spend that companies continue to not use tools available to them that will help to keep these and other costs down. Please contact me personally if you’d like to discuss.

At SafeSourcing, we help buyers save considerably on costs by providing tools that enhance the ability to do business in a better, safer, smarter, more streamlined and cost-effective way. Our flexible service offerings and suite of e-procurement tools deliver savings that can be referenced that are greater than 10 times the cost of our services and often much higher. Our annualized savings across all customers and all categories over the last 24 months are greater than 24%. You can not do better on your own!

We can help Improve your profitability and increase your efficiency. Both areas that  should and can help during these stressful times.

Here’s what one of our customers had to say. “We would not be where we are with our Indirect Spend if it were not for SafeSourcing.” SR. VP FINANCE OF $20B DISTRIBUTION COMPANY.

If you’d like to discuss our risk free trial, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services professional.

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