Sourcing; a Musical! We can source anything better than you can.

November 20th, 2009

Yes we can

Ok, so it?s another wacky Friday. Maybe this post should have come out last week on the 13th. As you read this keep in mind the old ANNIE OAKLEY FRANK BUTLER and Chorus song that many of us sang as children of anything you can do I can do better. Below is a version I would sing loud and sing proud to any of our competitors.

Anything you can source,
we can source better.
We can source anything
Better than you.

No, you can’t.
Yes, We can. No, you can’t.
Yes, We can. No, you can’t.
Yes, We can.
Yes, we can!

Anything you can buy
we can by cheaper.
Sooner not later
we?ll be sourcing cheaper than you.

No, you can?t. Yes, We do.
No, you won?t. Yes, we will.
No, you can?t! Yes, we do
yes, we are!

We can locate many more qualified suppliers
with a single mouse click.
We can locate new sources
with our supplier query tool.
As a result
We can drive lower savings than you.

Anything you can buy
we can buy cheaper.
We can buy anything
cheaper than you.

Pricing just fell Fifty cents?
Forty cents! Thirty cents?
Twenty!
No, they didn?t!
Yes, they did,
Yes, they did!

Any spec that you have
we have more tenfold.
So we can source anything
easier than you.

No, you can’t. (Softly)
Yes, We can. (LOUDER) No, you can’t. (Softer)
Yes, We can. (LOUDER) No, you can’t. (Softer)
Yes, WE do. (Full volume)

We are just much better than you

No, you?re not.
Yes, we are No, you aren?t.
Yes, we are No, you aren’t.
Yes, we are
Yes, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE are. No, you?re CA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-N’T
CA-A-A-A-N!
Yes, you ca-a-a-an!

We win. Yes you do! Yes you do! Yes you do!

We look forward to and appreciate your comments if you can.

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The Green Marketing Conference

November 19th, 2009

GfK Roper Consulting is presenting The Green Marketing Conference yesterday and today in Chicago.

At the conference, good and green companies are learning how to increase their brand’s emotional, cognitive and financial connection in today?s “greening” consumer markets. These are hugely important CSR initiatives that companies must focus on if they want to continue to attract their consumers in the future.

According to GfK more and more consumers are embracing green initiatives.

? Perceptions of environmental, ethical, and social stewardship are the fastest growing contributors to consumer brand value
? Over 66% of Americans believe “Doing well by doing good is a savvy business strategy.”
? Over the past 5 years the sales of organic and all natural products have increased 18% to 25% year over year.
? 30% of American consumers are willing to pay up to a 20% premium on clean, green products over non-sustainable alternatives…and that number grows each year.

Additionally in a related survey by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media, sixty percent of surveyed individuals felt either a great deal or a lot of personal responsibility to protect the environment. Who do you think these consumers will turn to for their product and services purchases?

This author posts regularly on this subject. It is important to hold your supply chain partners accountable to your companies Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. As this may be a difficult task to accomplish on your own, you procurement solution provider should be able to provide you with this type of information about your existing and new sources of supply. If they can not, make a change to a company that can.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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New Moon Rising!

November 18th, 2009

It?s always darkest before the dawn. Similar statements are often quoted in order to reinforce that it is never too late to get started or to benefit from new or more current thinking.

The above can be applied to just about any subject. In this case we are talking about e-procurement, strategic sourcing, e-negotiation, reverse auctions and e-RFX which are all terms with similar meanings. You can visit Google, Yahoo, Bing, Wikipedia and other internet search sources and you will be taken to a link to a provider?s home page or to a web page with a definition of these key words. Some definitions have been updated; some solutions offer more current technology at a lower price. However the bottom line is still the same. If you assign a good amount of your spend to these types of tools the following is a partial list of benefits you should enjoy.

1. You will compress your pricing
2. You will improve your earnings
3. You will find new sources of supply
4. You likely will improve terms and conditions
5. You will likely improve quality
6. Your procurement team will be more productive
7. You will have process improvement
8. You will directly support safer products
9. You will directly support the environment
10. You will hold suppliers accountable to the line item detail.

Historically these tools have not been highly used by retailers other than the largest of corporations and even in those cases large amounts of spend have not been assigned to their use. These tools can be used for small spends, large spends and just about any spend in between. Since there is always a new moon on the horizon, there is always an opportunity for newly enlightened companies to take advantage. We are about to end the first decade of the twenty first century. Isn?t time to look at things in a new way?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Retailers; who monitors your supplier’s safety performance?

November 17th, 2009

We all know that retailers are quietly saying to themselves; how are we supposed to monitor all the emerging safety and environmental standards in the supply chain with everything else we have to deal with in procuring products?

This is an even more complex issue when you consider that in order to do so data is required from your organization relative to the historical performance of your existing suppliers, data from the supplier as to their own assessment of their historical performance and finally other types external data that neither you or your incumbent may have.

When we talk safety, the question that retailers need to ask their suppliers is pretty simple. What certifications do you carry relative to food safety such as Safe Quality Foods (SQF), Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), American Humane Certified and many more? Additionally you should question all suppliers and manufacturers relative to their USDA and FDA inspection history.

Although Green Initiatives fall into the area of the social consciousness of a company, there are a variety of questions that should also be asked in this area as well such as what are your own companies green product initiatives such as Green Seal, Eco-logo and Green Star certifications and participations and how do your existing and new suppliers support or plan to support these same initiatives.

As retailers consider their alternatives in these areas, it may be easier for them to rely on their e-procurement solution providers for this data if the provider has it included in their supplier database. Pre-populated e-procurement templates can also act as a form of scorecard for existing suppliers and potential news sources of supply. This is actually a type of automated RFI process which can save retailers a lot of work and time when trying to find additional sources of supply or when trying to drive cost down with existing suppliers. These data may also help to protect retailers from harmful litigation when products end up not being as safe as promised.

If your existing e-procurement provider can not provide these types of data on demand as a normal byproduct of your standard e-procurement process at no additional cost, you should consider changing providers?

As always, we look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Retailers; who monitors your supplier?s safety performance?

November 17th, 2009

We all know that retailers are quietly saying to themselves; how are we supposed to monitor all the emerging safety and environmental standards in the supply chain with everything else we have to deal with in procuring products?

This is an even more complex issue when you consider that in order to do so data is required from your organization relative to the historical performance of your existing suppliers, data from the supplier as to their own assessment of their historical performance and finally other types external data that neither you or your incumbent may have.

When we talk safety, the question that retailers need to ask their suppliers is pretty simple. What certifications do you carry relative to food safety such as Safe Quality Foods (SQF), Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), American Humane Certified and many more? Additionally you should question all suppliers and manufacturers relative to their USDA and FDA inspection history.

Although Green Initiatives fall into the area of the social consciousness of a company, there are a variety of questions that should also be asked in this area as well such as what are your own companies green product initiatives such as Green Seal, Eco-logo and Green Star certifications and participations and how do your existing and new suppliers support or plan to support these same initiatives.

As retailers consider their alternatives in these areas, it may be easier for them to rely on their e-procurement solution providers for this data if the provider has it included in their supplier database. Pre-populated e-procurement templates can also act as a form of scorecard for existing suppliers and potential news sources of supply. This is actually a type of automated RFI process which can save retailers a lot of work and time when trying to find additional sources of supply or when trying to drive cost down with existing suppliers. These data may also help to protect retailers from harmful litigation when products end up not being as safe as promised.

If your existing e-procurement provider can not provide these types of data on demand as a normal byproduct of your standard e-procurement process at no additional cost, you should consider changing providers?

As always, we look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Country of origin information needs to be a significant part of product traceability

November 16th, 2009

One forward one back reporting is not enough if we plan to limit food borne illness outbreaks and other product issues that continue to put consumers and companies at risk.

According to Wikipedia, Country of origin (COO) is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where a product comes from.

The Obama administration continues to seek tougher labeling laws on fresh meat and other food products from Canada. Canada continues to be an opponent to country of origin labeling. Mexico our other NAFTA partner also does not support this type of labeling and has actually filed protests with the World Trade Organization.

It troubles this author when North America has suffered the several of the largest food borne illness outbreaks in decades during the last two years that our local trading partners ignore this critical step in product traceability.

What we clearly continue to require is specific country of origin labeling. Standards tend to be inconsistent from country to country. By example products enter North America from Europe that may carry country of origin labeling like ?Europe? or ?EU? rather than specific labeling indicating a product comes from France or Germany.

Manufactured products create a more unique issue, as individual products may include up to hundreds of components, pieces and parts from dozens of countries and assembled in other countries. While this issue requires significant work, there is absolutely no reason that we can not include country of origin labeling on all food products that enter our country.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

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Seventy nine percent (79%) of college students would prefer to work for a green company.

November 13th, 2009

How do retailers go about attracting good procurement talent? One way is to begin by asking if you are a green enough retailer to work for.

With all of the issues facing our planet, both future and present employees are weighing their decisions as to prospective work places on more than just money. Are your human resource procurement professionals savvy enough to your company green practices and policies to attract the best and brightest?

Procurement does not only relate to the products your company buys for resale or supplies that your company uses internally. If you ask a human resources (HR) professional they are in the procurement business as it relates to people. In fact many of the tools they use during the recruitment process can in fact be sourced to reduce their cost using reverse auctions such as background checks and drug screening kits. First however they need to get the best candidates to want to work for you. So, these are not the most important products for human resources professional to be concerned with.

The job of human resources when conducting an interview is to sell your company, to make it the first place someone wants to interview and the last place they want to leave once hired. Increasingly, the social conscience of your company is becoming a deciding factor as to whether or not quality candidates want to select you as a place to work. The first question this begs, is your human resources department in a position to clearly discuss your company?s corporate social responsibility programs and initiatives (CSR)?

In a conducted by experience.com of 2,774 college students, the following question was asked. If you had two job offers and one company was ?green? would that have an impact on your decision? A full seventy nine percent (79%) answered yes. Let?s hope your CSR program leads to the need to use the other products required in this process because your human resource professionals are armed with a strong story.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

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Becoming Green Certified; Thoughts on Equipment and Facility Changes:

November 12th, 2009

Today?s guest blog post is from Ryan Melowic who is the Director of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

With all the talk about becoming green today it is important to understand the necessary steps required to achieve that goal. A resource that many are not aware of that you can work with to accomplish your green objectives is your local government?s Green Business Coordinator. He or she can provide guidance if you have questions or need assistance meeting green requirements. There are also many rebate programs that can help compensate you for facility changes required in your green pursuit. Please take the time to speak with your Coordinator before beginning to go green.

Below are some steps you can take to move your facilities in a green direction.

1. Mount occupancy sensors on lighting fixtures in low occupancy areas.
2. Upgrade incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lights.
3. Install ultra efficient ballasts unit to mute lights to benefit from daylight.
4. Control lighting, refrigeration and HVAC with an energy management system.
5. Improve present fluorescent lighting with T-8 lamps with electronic ballasts T-8 systems use up to 40% less energy than T-12 systems).
6. Put in a programmable thermostat to manage heating and air conditioning.
7. All major hot water pipes should be insulated.
8. Refrigeration cold suction lines should be insulated.
9. Plant shrubs or trees near windows for natural shade.
10. Fill air gaps around doors and windows with weather stripping.
11. Choose electrical equipment with energy saving features (e.g. Energy Star).
12. Use computer hardware programs that conserve energy by automatically turning off idle monitors and printers.
13. Install plastic strip curtains on refrigerator and freezer doors.
14. Upgrade hot water heaters to on-demand systems.
15. Install a solar powered water heater or pre-heater.
16. Decrease the number of lamps and increase lighting effectiveness by installing optical reflectors or diffusers.
17. Add desk lamps to work spaces in to reduce the need for overhead lighting.
18. Install ceiling fans to circulate air.

We hope these steps help with your thinking in your road to becoming greener company.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

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What is the Green Power Partnership and who are the leading retail organizations?

November 11th, 2009

Our blog focus this week is on retail environmental best practices and what retailers are doing to make their companies greener through their procurement practices and collaboration with partners and suppliers that do the same. Please read on to learn more about the Green Power Partnership or GPP.

From the GPP website, we learn that The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations ? from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments.
The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations ? from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.

These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Purchase amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.

Purchase figures are based on annualized Partner contract amounts (kilowatt-hours), not calendar year totals. These rankings are updated on a quarterly schedule. Find out how your organization can partner with EPA today! To view a top partner list, select from the chart below:

The Top 20 Retail list represents the largest purchasers among retail partners within the Green Power Partnership. The combined green power purchases of these organizations amounts to nearly 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 276,000 average American homes each year.
Annual Green Power Usage (kWh)

1. Kohl’s Department Stores
2. Whole Foods Market 3. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. / California and Texas Facilities
4. Starbucks
5. Staples
6. Lowe’s
7. Safeway Inc.
8. REI
9. H-E-B Grocery Company
10. The Est?e Lauder Companies Inc. / Operations
11. FedEx Office
12. Gander Mountain
13. Giant Eagle, Inc.
14. The North Face
15. Aveda Corporation
16. Office Depot
17. prAna
18. Half Price Books / Texas Facilities
19. Macy’s, Inc. / California and Hawaii Stores
20. Origins

SafeSourcing offers it congratulations to these companies that help to create a better environment for coming generations through their green efforts.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What is the United States Green Building Council or USGBC?

November 10th, 2009

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation. To lean more please read on.

This author believes that the single largest opportunity for impacting our environment is in making our buildings greener. This week, the U.S. Green Building Council hosts the world?s largest green building conference and expo, Greenbuild, coming to Phoenix, Ariz., Nov 11-13, 2009. If you are not attending and are interested in joining as a company or individual member please read on and visit the following links.

USGBC National Membership:

Employees of USGBC National member organizations earn major discounts on workshops, reference guides, Greenbuild registration, and LEED professional accreditation. Member organizations also receive decreased project registration and certification fees. The future of green building is shaped by USGBC members who join committees–the core of the consensus-based process that develops LEED, educational offerings, Greenbuild, and other programs. And of course, there?s the networking -? members-only events are held across the country in conjunction with many major conferences.

Individual Chapter Membership:

If you are an individual interested in promoting green building, or even if you work for a USGBC National Member company, Chapter membership allows you to get plugged-in with education, networking, and advocacy efforts that will enrich your neighborhood, city and region. Take it a step further by taking a volunteer leadership role in the chapter, or assist in developing education, information and outreach programs that are specific to your local industry and social community.

Please remember that certifying the products you buy and the buildings you build today as green can mean a better environment for our future generations which are also your future customers. Please include green building in your corporate CSR initiatives.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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