Archive for the ‘Supply Chain Procurement’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Vending machines are not going away and they aren’t just for candy and soda anymore!

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Today’s post is by Lauren Gentry; Account Manager at SafeSourcing. 

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Restocking the Old Vending Machine with Live Bait and Prescription Pills,” the vending machine industry has taken a complete turn.  “Traditional vending machines disappeared from 134,000 locations between 2007 and 2010.” Not to mention that “sales from vending machines sank more than 11%, to $42.2 billion in the same period.”

The vending machine industry has to either find a change in product or customer in order to continue to be profitable at all.  A change in product is exactly what has happened.  Vending machines are now found with things such as live bait, over the counter medications, rental videos, and high tech gadgets. “Machines, like Coinstar Inc.’s Redboxes, are smart enough to rent DVDs.  At airports, vending machines with headphones and electronics are now common.”  The industry has made an obvious change in product sold in order to stay relevant.  There are several indicators as to why the industry has shifted; fuel and food costs increasing are the leading indicators.

So, how do these companies source the content for these more current versions of a historical format? Not much has really changed there. Or, maybe it has and you should take a look at SaaS based cloud offerings that also do similar things in very different ways.

With changes and innovation taking place in a commodity industry such as vending machines, how will your company adjust to a shift in your industry? And will there be a difference in how you control your costs?

For more information on SafeSourcing and how we can assist you while transitioning your company to new delivery models and its related cost centers, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative for more information.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in ,

Vending machines are not going away and they aren?t just for candy and soda anymore!

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Today?s post is by Lauren Gentry; Account Manager at SafeSourcing.?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, ?Restocking the Old Vending Machine with Live Bait and Prescription Pills,? the vending machine industry has taken a complete turn.? ?Traditional vending machines disappeared from 134,000 locations between 2007 and 2010.? Not to mention that ?sales from vending machines sank more than 11%, to $42.2 billion in the same period.?

The vending machine industry has to either find a change in product or customer in order to continue to be profitable at all.? A change in product is exactly what has happened.? Vending machines are now found with things such as live bait, over the counter medications, rental videos, and high tech gadgets. ?Machines, like Coinstar Inc.?s Redboxes, are smart enough to rent DVDs.? At airports, vending machines with headphones and electronics are now common.?? The industry has made an obvious change in product sold in order to stay relevant.? There are several indicators as to why the industry has shifted; fuel and food costs increasing are the leading indicators.

So, how do these companies source the content for these more current versions of a historical format? Not much has really changed there. Or, maybe it has and you should take a look at SaaS based cloud offerings that also do similar things in very different ways.

With changes and innovation taking place in a commodity industry such as vending machines, how will your company adjust to a shift in your industry? And will there be a difference in how you control your costs?

For more information on SafeSourcing and how we can assist you while transitioning your company to new delivery models and its related cost centers, please contact a SafeSourcing?Customer Service Representative for more information.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in ,

Purchasers Plan to Continue Using Recession Tactics

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Ryan asks; why do procurement professionals turn to SafeSourcing?

The recession has not ended, and it is clear that purchasers must continue using recession tactics, saving money every way that they can.? Mid-sized companies, business owners and others have discovered that they don’t all have to sacrifice quality to gain products for a reasonable, recession-proof price.

With our Reverse Auction and additional eProcurement technology, SafeSourcing is harnessing the power of eProcurement by providing a one-stop shop for competitive bids from over 380,000 suppliers.? By combining their buying power, companies can leverage a lower price while locking in higher quality items.

Who are the suppliers?? SafeSourcing has amassed its unique database by certifying companies based on their safety and environmental support programs.? Companies must be highly rated to earn a place in the database.? Criteria include eco-friendly and food safety systems such as ISO 22000, ECO-LOGO, SQF and GFSI.? These certifications naturally ensure a higher quality of goods and materials.? Their growers, producers or manufacturers automatically set a higher standard for themselves because they are socially responsible businesses.

How does organized eProcurement, such as SafeSourcing process help businesses?? Companies are quickly learning that if they want to prosper, they must be able to guarantee the health and safety of the products they sell to their consumers.? The task of purchasing goods from the worldwide supply chain is a daunting prospect unless a business uses a supplier database like the one offered by SafeSourcing.

Procurement professionals appreciate the SafeSourceIt? database and the quick response time they receive when looking for new sources of supply.? Owners and other stakeholders will appreciate the benefits of group buying power.? Our customers are continually surprised as they see the quality of products and merchandise from suppliers they were not aware of.? They will respond very favorably to new suppliers that provide them with high quality, green focused products and services at the best price.

For more information on this topic, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.?

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in , ,

Part II of II. New Technology: Helping Businesses to Compete !

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

In yesterday?s post, this author asked, ?With so much new technology being introduced every day, how are you using it to help your business be more competitive??? I now would ?like to offer a little more detail relative to the following four areas you?re your consideration.

The Cloud? ? There have literally been thousands of articles, an equal numbers of blogs, including ones on this site like this one about the benefits of cloud computing.? Cloud computing allows companies to have all of the advantages of an IT data infrastructure just like the Fortune 100 companies without the overhead of staff to support, equipment to run, software to manage it and worries of assuring it is always available.? These are all of the financial reasons why cloud computing makes sense for companies but the? feature advantages are equally important as companies with resources all over the world can more easily collaborate on projects through the virtual environment clouds create.

IP Phone Systems ? On the heals of discussing what can be done with a ?cloud? network structure it makes sense to bring up IP phone service companies.? Tens of thousands if not millions of dollars were typically required for a company to install a Private Branch eXchange (PBX) for their company.? The complexity of maintaining such a system either required a fulltime expert employee or high-priced consultants in the past.? Now companies can have all of the features of those PBXs at hugely reduced prices through companies like RingCentral and Windstream who tailor plans for businesses based on their needs and budgets to give them everything they want.

Dashboard Communication?? The days of HR departments running around answering phones and letters about benefits, providing forms, and printing expensive newsletters is quickly becoming a thing of the past as companies are beginning to understand how cost-effective internal portals and dashboards can be to handle all of this traffic.? Third party companies that offer HR portal solutions allow employees to service many of their own needs which frees up a typically overloaded HR staff to concentrate on the things that matter most to the business.

Virtual Staff?? All three of the above mentioned items are useful tools that aide in companies being able to employ more and more virtual employees.? The financial benefits of virtual employees have long been documented as have the added benefits of increased and quality work done by virtual employees who are allowed to better control the flow of their work day.? Advances in cloud technology and video and webinar offerings make employing virtual staff even more practical to do.? It is also important to note that when companies increase their virtual staff they instantly remove the geographical boundaries that sometimes prevent them from going after the best employees across the country.?

As small and medium companies increase their contribution toward our Nation?s economy, their ability to compete at cost-effective levels will become increasingly more important and technology will play a huge role in them getting there.? For more information on finding vendors in any of these four areas or in other areas that might help your business, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.??

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in , ,

Part I of II. New Technology: Helping Businesses to Compete !

Monday, February 27th, 2012

With so much new technology being introduced every day, how are you using it to help your business be more competitive?

Technology is not the only thing that makes businesses run: we all know that regardless of what our IT departments tell us.? Technology, however, does make it possible for businesses (especially small and medium-sized businesses) to do things for a few thousand dollars that would have cost millions just 10-15 years ago.

This two part post will focus on four specific areas where small businesses including startups can leverage newer technologies in ways that can help them be more competitive at a fraction of historical costs.

These areas are:

1.?The Cloud
2.?IP Phone Systems
3.?Dashboard Communication
4.?Virtual Staff

To learn more detail about these specific technologies and how SafeSourcing can help you find providers of these services for your company, check back with us tomorrow for Part II.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , ,

All the policies in the world don’t necessarily make us safer.

Friday, January 27th, 2012

I read two articles today. Most people would not connect them. I do. The first was on the front page of USA TODAY titled Scientists engineer bioterror fears by David Vergano. The subtitle was New mad-made bird flu strain raises prospect of deadly pandemic. The second article was in the business section of THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC and titled Obama plan would protect goods headed to the U.S by John Heilprin.

I’m not sure I need to tell you how these articles are tied together, but an army is only as good as its supply chain and a population is pretty much the same from a product availability and safety persepctive. If you’d like proof, Think North Korea vs. the U.S.So where does the work need to be done. 

This picture is just product safety oriented without adding in any of the other concerns realted to the articles

Big job. Lots to be done

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in , ,

Back To The Future!

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Companies and individuals enter into contracts based on the future price of a market or commodity. Manufacturers that use a variety of commodities in their manufacturing process constantly balance the swing of many commodities in order to drive blended costs that most benefit their future needs. Futures can be monitored on future markets like Bloomberg amongst others.

A very simple example of how this data might be useful to a buyer is that of a retail real estate – construction buyer that is looking at construction of new stores for the upcoming year. If we continue with the Bloomberg example, they report futures prices on energy, agriculture, industrial metals etc. If a buyer were to look at the future price for lumber within the agriculture category based on 1000 board feet, as of this report the cost for this commodity is down 3.46%. This reduction in price might be used as a negotiation point for upcoming stick builds versus prefab on concrete structures that are in your plan for the particular future month being sold. It does not take very long to look at these reporting tools in order to understand trending in commodities that affect your sourcing. Another example would be looking Diesel futures as they impact your distribution costs and those of supplier’s providing products to you.

A simple step you can take is to pick three market views such as Bloomberg, CME etc. Pick a half dozen commodities that impact the products you are sourcing. Now take 10 minutes per day to review them so that they become second nature to you.

If you’d like help in this process or are interested in track a commodities price versus your particular purchase points, please contact SafeSourcing.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , , ,

Still having supply chain issues?

Friday, July 15th, 2011

It has been 125 days since the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, yet many companies are still struggling to cope with the fallout of their supply chain. Hopefully, our readers are not in this situation. However, if your company is still struggling with a supply chain issue or if you would like to be prepared for a future disaster, please read on.

Yesterday, I spoke with a vendor that had to sit out of a $2.9M opportunity due to such an issue. What?s worse; they told me that they have taken steps to source their products in North America, but that they are still six to eight months away from considering new business. No matter who you are, you simply cannot afford to walk away from sales opportunities of this (or any) size.

So, how could they have mitigated their exposure to this risk?

There are a variety of resources and processes that could (and should) have been in place long before any disaster struck.

1.Only purchase using an RFx service. Hosting an RFI, RFP, or an RFQ would have identified additional sources of supply with contacts in the event that a vendor change is required.

2.Implement a contract management service. In the example I have used, they have had this same source of supply for years. Using contract management, this company would have been prompted to source this product several times during this timeframe based on the appropriate schedule and contract terms.

3.Consult with your strategic sourcing partner. Whether you want to be prepared for the future or work through a current supply chain issue, call on your partner for advice. Their job is to help you succeed.

For more information on SafeSourcing and supply chain interruption preparedness, please contact a Customer Service representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in ,

This is a repost from three years ago titled “Thinking Green”.

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Let’s start with an old truism. “You can’t improve what you don’t measure”. This applies to green and safety standard compliance. Importantly, companies also can’t expect their trading partners to know what they are not told. In a 2008 white paper (that you can find on our website) titled “Safety in the Supply Chain, an Irony” I listed nine steps to safer and a more eco-friendly procurement. Although simple, these simple steps go a long way towards accomplishing the most important step in any endeavor. If you don’t write it down, it won’t happen. As a guideline I offer the following:

Nine steps to safer and more eco-friendly procurement

1. Be pro-active in driving not for resale and for resale product safety within your company, and also supporting eco-standards in the procurement process.
2. Pay it forward with all of your trading partners by sharing what you are doing, and asking what they do to support yours or similar initiatives of their own.
3. Educate your employees and trading partners about common safety standards and guidelines such as the SQF Certificate www.sqfi.com  and the Global Food Safety Initiative www.ciesnet.com.
4. Educate your employees and trading partners about common eco-standards such as Green- Energy National Standard www.green-e.org or EcoLogo www.ecologo.org. 
5. Point associates and trading partners to free educational websites such as www.safesourcing.com to use their free SafeSourcing Wiki or the Sourcebook professional social network for procurement professionals.
6. Only use trading partners that follow your lead.
7. Train your team to understand and use all available tools that insure supply chain safety such the free daily safety in sourcing blog at www.safesourcing.com  or the low cost SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database and Reverse Auction Tools.
8. Write it down and then impose a system of measures and controls to monitor performance against clearly defined goals.
9. Start at the top and engage all levels of your company.

We look forward to your input on this weeks posts.

Posted in , ,

NAFTA still a challenge at Seventeen and a half?

Friday, July 8th, 2011

It’s hard to believe that The North American Free Trade Agreement went into force on January 1st of 1994 or seventeen years ago. This agreement covers a trade bloc consisting of the United States, Mexico and Canada.

How well this agreement has worked is a completely different subject at least in part. Can you believe that it took until this year for the governments of the United States and Mexico to agree to let each countries trucks travel on each others highways. Arguments, tariffs, security issues and other concerns have kept this vital part of any free trade zone from working as designed.

Maybe we have it right now and sourcing products from our free trade zone partners will be a bit easier.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , ,

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
© 2025 SafeSourcing