Today’s post is by Troy Lowe; Vice President of Development at SafeSourcing.

During these times a lot of us are displaced and feeling very stressed out. Whether it is from working from home, being secluded or worrying about the health of ourselves and our loved ones. Normally if you have a stressful days, you can step out of the house or leave work and do something you enjoy to help take your mind off of everything. Whether that be going out to exercise at the gym or going out with friends for a relaxing diner. During these times it is crucial that we try and find alternatives to our usual social norms and try and find something to do to take our minds off of all the things going on around us. Staying positive and optimistic during these rough times is crucial to our mental health and to our immune systems. One of the things that you can try and do is create a positive daily routine. If you are like many of us, your daily routine has been entirely disrupted.   Take some time to establish a new daily routine. Some experts say that having a daily/weekly routine is a way to feel that there is some certainty during this isolation. If you are working from home, make sure you create a work space somewhere outside of your bedroom and get dressed as if you are going to your office. Anything that you can do to create a sense of normalcy will help reduce the stress and promote positivity. Below are some other things that we can do to stay positive during these times.

• Take a Break from the News
• Make Tine to Unwind
• Help Others
• Re-connect with Friends on Social Media
• Make a Playlist of your Favorite Songs
• Be Grateful for the Things you Have
• Exercise
• Find Ways to Embrace Laughter and Humor into Your Day
• Take up an Old Hobby
• Read Something Uplifting
• Have Faith

Interested in learning how SafeSourcing can help your company run more efficiently?

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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

 The Covid-19 pandemic has affected most people throughout the globe. Some have contracted the virus, some have recovered, and some are lucky enough to not have had it. Those that have not contracted the virus have likely been practicing the recommended stay at home orders and social distancing. Those two behavioral changes aren’t the only things that have changed. There have been many other changes in each of our lives.

 Most of us are isolated, unable to visit with friends and family except through technology. This reinforces the idea that today’s technology and connectivity through technology is essential for all of us. Technology, primarily internet access and telephone access, have been deemed luxuries in the past, as non-essential entertainment. This pandemic has made many people realize the need for today’s technology is as essential as electric and water. If someone needs groceries, to go to the doctor, or help fixing their car, we would have to turn to those same forms of technology to call their doctor, look up local mechanics, or ordering groceries to pick up.

 An important part of staying healthy is not only taking care of ourselves physically, but also keeping our minds healthy and sharp. This is where technology is especially important. While we cannot visit our friends and family, we can keep in touch and see each other through video calls, email, and social media. This allows us to not only maintain closeness with friends and family, but also check in to make sure everyone is doing well.

 Finally, technology is important because it allows many of us to continue working from home. Without phone and internet, we would be quite isolated and unable to perform many of our daily work tasks. Through conferencing, video calling, messenger applications, and other forms of technology, many people are able to continue working, earning a living and keeping businesses afloat.

 SafeSourcing relies heavily on today’s technology and can continue helping our customers through those same essential technology resources, saving your company time and money and helping you get through this together.

 For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your organization, discover what technology is available to help 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.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR and Administration at SafeSourcing Inc.

There will always be times when people and the economy struggle and face tough times, and now is definitely one of those times. Unemployment claims have been higher than ever seen before, stocks have plummeted lower than anyone would’ve thought, and we keeping trekking on without a clear end to it in sight. Things will eventually begin looking up and people and the economy will begin recovering and heading toward a more normal state that we are all accustomed to, although it may take some time. There are, however, things you can do now to help get through this.

Many companies have faced challenges in their supply chain. With so many businesses closed and people out of work, there may be many products that you just haven’t been able to even get. This is the best time to reach out to your procurement partner and see how they can help – and they will likely help in big ways.

Filling the gaps – Your organization may be struggling to find some specific items, like toilet paper or hand sanitizer for example. Because there has been an abundance of consumers buying certain items, many retailers have not been able to keep up with demand. This is when reaching out to your procurement partner can help you find what you need. While you may not be able to get the exact brand of toilet paper for example, a procurement partner may be able to find suppliers of other brands that can fit your needs and provide the paper products your customers want.

Getting things there – One way reaching out to your procurement partner can help is by finding the right people to fill in the gaps in your supply chain. For instance, if your logistics company is now not available for regular runs, a procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can help you find the right company that can not only fill the gaps in your coverage, but may also be a better fit for your needs.

Connecting each other – Another way a procurement partner can help disruptions in the supply chain is by simply having someone who has a hand in almost every industry. Your procurement partner likely deals with everyone from raw material suppliers, to manufacturers, distributors, brokers, retailers, all the way to customers. They are likely to have the knowledge and skills to help bridge any gaps that your organization may have in coverage, simply because that’s what procurement partners do. They connect your organization with the people that can help get you up and running again.

In addition to helping your organization overcome disruptions in the supply chain, a procurement partner may also be able to save you money on the things you already buy. In fact, even during difficult times, a procurement partner can not only find suppliers that can provide the products and services you need, but also get those products and services an average of 24% less than you were already paying.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your supply chain of sourcing needs, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s blog is by Gayl Southard, Administrative Assistant it SafeSourcing.

It is a scary thought for all of us to leave our homes and get the needed groceries to run our homes right now. I hadn’t been to the grocery store in three weeks! I had order meat and poultry on line and it was delivered every two weeks. I am also fortunate to live in a warmer climate where we have local farmers that can provide produce that can be ordered each week and picked up on Saturday mornings. Payment is done online and the produce is loaded into your car trunk. There is no contact with any person.

One of the grocery chains doing great work is Kroger. According to a press release from the Kroger grocery chain, they have increased their hourly frontline workers pay by two dollars an hour, calling it a “hero bonus”. The bonus also applies to the Kroger family chain, including Fry’s, Ralphs, Fred Meyer’s, QFC and more. “The Hero Bonus is just one more way we continue to convey our thanks and gratitude not only to our existing associates but also to the more than 30,000 new hires who have joined in the past two weeks and those who will soon join the Kroger family of companies,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s Chairman and CEO. 1. The bonus applies to all hourly frontline grocery employees, supply chain, manufacturing, pharmacy and call center employees.

Kroger is one of the nation’s largest grocery chains. Kroger also has installed plexiglass barriers or partitions to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus and protect both the shopper and store employees.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your procurement efforts, or on our Risk

Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Reference’s

1. Connor Van Ligten, USA Today, 4/8/2020

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

We all use tools in our day to day lives, but how many tools we really use might surprise you. Smartphones may be one of the most used tools in many of our lives, giving us access to directions, weather, news, a camera, or just the ability to connect with others. So, what makes a tool useful and practical or not? Whether it is your vehicle, Google home or Alexa, or even your gym, we use tools to accomplish more in less time and to make things easier.

No matter what business you are in, tools likely play an essential role in your success. Construction crews may need bulldozers, hammers, nail guns, safety equipment and more while office workers may need computers, charts, projectors, telephones and more. There are tools that can help both these industries as well as many others – e-Procurement tools. So, what are some e-Procurement tools?

First, having an e-Procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can function as a tool your organization can use. With ready and knowledgeable staff, they can take a spark of an idea from you and turn it into something real with savings the whole organization could benefit from.

In addition to people, another tool SafeSourcing offers is our library. SafeSourcing has a vast library that can be used to educate, research, and streamline your process. Our Wiki library is available to everyone and can help you understand many industry specific terms. Our electronic newsletter provides useful news and information that can provide a better understanding of what is happening in your industry as well as around the world. To streamline your processes, SafeSourcing also has a template library that can help you with specifications, terms and conditions, and any RFx goals you might have.

Even more than already mentioned, there are more tools available from SafeSourcing. SafeSourceIt can help you get the supplies or services you need at the best price and easily compare vendors all in one location. SafeSpendAnalysis can help you understand where your organization is spending its money and where it can potentially save the most. SafeDocument is a safe and reliable location to store all your organizations documents, and with version retention and access from anywhere it can provide what you need when you need it. SafeContract is another tool that allows you to safely store your contracts and provides alerts when a contract is nearing its expiration, allowing you to be more prepared.

All of these tools can be highly useful for any organization. All of them being easy to use and in one location make them that much more useful and practical, which is exactly what we seek from a tool.

For more information on SafeSourcing tools or helping in your procurement efforts, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s post is by Dave Wenig, Vice President of Sales and Services at SafeSourcing, Inc.

If you read my last blog post titled, “Are you too comfortable?” and realized I was describing your organization then read on. Actually, please keep reading anyway.

When I wrote a month ago and posed that question, I honestly had no idea that the markets were about to tumble, schools would close down, businesses would send their employees home, sporting events would be cancelled, and more. While I was aware and even concerned about Coronavirus (COVID-19), that’s not what I was referring to. That said, this terrible pandemic has, in fact, already started challenging US businesses and this looks likely to continue. The question now is, whether or not it is too late to take actions that will help your company survive the pandemic.

In all likelihood we can still help. There is still time to take steps. Even if you are already a responsible steward of your company’s expenses, there is still likely room for improvement and any areas where you can reduce costs in a market like this are absolutely worth the effort. If you’re curious about how well you are doing with your strategic sourcing, then this blog I posted a while back will help you get a sense. Look, we save our customers greater than 24% on average across all of their spend categories. I don’t have to ask if that would be helpful. I know that would help any organization.

But, it’s not just cost reductions. Concerns are steadily growing about the stability of organizations’ supply chains and now is not the time to have all of your eggs in one vendors’ basket. If you’ve been following SafeSourcing, you probably know that we have a supplier database consisting of over 457,000 global suppliers of any good or service you might need to run your business. Even if all you need is to supplement your current supply chain with additional sources of supply or alternate service providers, we can help with that too.

Just don’t wait too long. If there’s anything that I’m sure of as this awful situation caused by Coronavirus continues to unfold across the globe, it’s that the only wrong way to prepare is to do nothing.

Stay safe and don’t be shy if you need assistance. We’re all in this together.

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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

 It seems with nearly every holiday, there is usually a common chocolate treat associated with it. Whether it is chocolate hearts for Valentine’s Day, chocolate bunnies for Easter, or hot chocolate for Christmas, chocolate has become not just common, but a standard for many of our holidays. Not only that, but chocolate is something many of us eat often without the holiday celebration, from chocolate chip cookies and granola bars to a candy bar at your local gas station.

 So where does all this chocolate come from? While most of us can find chocolate in nearly every store you might visit, we first we need to find out who makes all this chocolate. Globally, the top chocolate companies are Mars Inc., Ferrero Group, Mondelez International, Meiji Co. Ltd., Hershey Co., and Nestle. These companies have remained the top in the industry for numerous years and account for approximately 60 billion dollars in sales. That’s a lot of chocolate!

 While chocolate is a sweet treat many of us enjoy, there has recently been some bitter discussion on where chocolate comes from. This has led to some investigative reports looking into the chocolate industry and the source of their cocoa. An estimated 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast which are both West African countries and are known to not only have vast government corruption, but also known to use child labor as well as slavery in their cocoa farms. This claim is difficult to verify, however, because journalists and reporters are often barred from visiting these farms or highly supervised while there, being only allowed to show the area in a positive way.

 There has recently been a change in the chocolate industry, though. There are many chocolate companies that ethically source their cocoa. No matter where you live, there are likely a number of chocolatiers near you that use cocoa from farms that provide humane conditions for their workers and that is something extra sweet to think about.

 For more information on how you can ethically source chocolate, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

References:

1.  http://safesourcing.com/ContactUs/tabid/60/language/en-US/Default.aspx
2. https://www.candyindustry.com/2020/global-top-100-candy-companies
3. https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/
4. Ethically sourced chocolate: http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies

 Today’s blog is by Gayl Southard, Administrative Assistant at SafeSourcing.

“You learn something new everyday” is a phrase often used after a person learns a lesson by accident. You simply are learning by circumstance rather than acquiring a new skill set or learning new information or facts.

Harvey MacKay has always been an advocate of lifelong learning or intentional learning. Getting the right information and putting this into practice whether it be to improve his golf swing or learning a new language. Technology today makes things easier than ever before. There are online classes, TEDtalks, YouTube, and instructional videos to name a few. If you are hooked up to WiFi, knowledge is unlimited and is available to fit your schedule.

“Alvin Toffler, author of ‘Future Shock,’ who said, the illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. In today’s world you need to know how to navigate social relationships, keep up with new technology, be informed about politics, be aware of your finances, make intelligent career decisions, choose a healthy diet along with a million other skills in order to thrive in this world.

Learning something the wrong way can have permanent consequences. Some questions you may ask before taking on new learning are:

•     Why am I learning this information and how will I use it?
•     What level of understanding do I need?
•     How can this information be broken down?
•     What are the most important things to learn based on my personal goals?

Many times knowing a little on a topic can be a conversation starter or could even lead to a sale. You might not commit to learning something everyday , but once a week or month could be a good start. MacKay’s Moral is use it or lose it!

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your procurement efforts, or on our Risk

Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

References:

Harvey MacKay, AZCentral, 1/13/2020

Today’s post is by Dave Wenig, Vice President of Sales and Services at SafeSourcing, Inc.

There is no shortage of news stories that are designed to induce fear in the reader. Surely, it’s up to the reader to decide whether the articles are correct or just more clickbait. While a lot of what we see today falls into the clickbait category, there are still real risks that need to be monitored and managed.

One such headline that affects us all is a question that has gotten plenty of attention in the media recently. Will we see a recession in 2020 or not? I’m not even going to speculate. It’s not my place to do so. Instead, I’ll do my part to make sure that my customers are prepared for a recession or any other potentially devastating situation.

Are you too comfortable?

One of the biggest mistakes I see our prospects and a few customers making is allowing themselves to become too comfortable with their situation. Perhaps a strong economy has been good to them for some amount of time and they have shifted their focus away from cost reductions. Whether they did this intentionally or through negligence, they’ve made a critical mistake. Focusing solely on revenue is an incomplete strategy. It’s like keeping your car perfectly clean and shiny and skipping the maintenance like oil changes. At some point, you’re going to be in trouble.

I’ll admit that this seems dramatic, but the fact is I have personally seen this play out within some of the organizations that SafeSourcing has worked with over the years. I’ve watched companies embrace strategic sourcing, regardless of how weak or strong their sales are at the time, which thrive when the market is strong and survive when it is not. On the other hand, I’ve watched former customers and prospects go through layoffs, having their stock values crash, and shut their doors. At some point, it’s too late to cut costs. The time to be a steward of your organization’s expenses is before it is too late.

Don’t let yourself get too comfortable and caught off guard. Split your focus in a way that still allows for strategic sourcing to be an initiative and make sure the organization understands that this has executive sponsorship. Or don’t. I’ll keep my eye on the news and hope I don’t see more familiar company names in these saddening headlines.

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s Post is by Eli Razov, Senior Account Manager at SafeSourcing, Inc.

Cheese is a dairy product derived from milk that is produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, the milk is usually acidified, and by adding the enzyme rennet, causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into final form. Some cheeses have mold on the rind, the outer layer, or throughout. Most cheeses melt at cooking temperature.

A lot of cheeses are named after their points of origin—Cheddar, Roquefort, and Colby are named after places in England, France, and Wisconsin, respectively. Other cheese names are a bit more complicated. Below are some of the more commonly known cheeses and their “origin stories”.

COTTAGE CHEESE

It’s the most familiar and commonly consumed form of cheese curds (at least in the United States). What are curds? Coagulated chunks of milk proteins that came together due to the addition or presence of an acid, such as rennet (which naturally occurs in sheep stomachs) or vinegar. Curd based cheeses date back to ancient times, but cottage cheese as we know it, in name and form, originates in 1830s England, when dairy farmers made curd cheese in their homes, or cottages, with dairy waste left over from making other products elsewhere on the farm, such as butter.

MONTEREY JACK

This mild, semi-hard white cheese is only partially named after its birthplace. In the mid-19th century, Franciscan friars stationed in central coastal California (near the settlement of Monterey) created the bland cousin of Cheddar. That’s when Scottish immigrant and entrepreneur, David Jack, entered the picture. He came to California in the 1840s to work as a military contractor (among other things) and got so rich that he bought up most of the land in Monterey County, including the dairies that were by that time producing the friars’ Monterey cheese. He decided to nationally market the cheese with his own name attached, first as Jack’s Cheese, and then the classier sounding Monterey Jack.

MOZZARELLA

Mozzarella is as Italian as the thing to which it most often contributes: pizza. In the Neapolitan dialect (as in from Naples, where pizza has a rich history) of Italian, mozza means “to cut.” That reflects how mozzarella is made. Cheesemakers mozza, or rather cut, curds and shape them into balls, which is how traditional mozzarella is sold.

CHEEZ WHIZ

This shelf-stable (before opening) cheese-like brick is a famous example of processed cheese. When it was first mass-marketed, Kraft named the melty, queso necessity “Velveeta” to imply that it was smooth and silky…just like velvet (but with a far more pronounced cheesy taste).

With so many different styles and origins of cheeses there is bound to be one that fits your tastes. With SafeSourcing’s online RFx Tool, we can help you source the cheese(s) you want!

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact SafeSourcing  we have an entire team waiting to assist you today

Citation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese