Year end spend. Who would think that in 2013, the budget game would still be played; but it is and in large multi-national companies, such as one that I was referred to this week. One part of the game is that a division has funds allocated to it for capital expenditure (capex). If it does not spend all the money … Read More
Procurement can cost money
Obtain value. Its difficult to be pure when under pressure. In the best of situations the role of procurement is obtaining value for your organisation when acquiring externally supplied goods and services. This sounds reasonable, except when procurement professionals are under pressure to meet time deadlines or price objectives, then objectives can become hazy. I read about this type of … Read More
Suppliers are part of your business
It costs to get paid. Outsourcing the work of accounts payable is not uncommon, but I recently read of twist in the story. The service provider to whom a government owned commercial operation has outsourced its AP is charging suppliers 15.5c per $100 of invoice value as a processing fee! Here is another example of what has always been the … Read More
Change could happen to your supply chains
Horse meat challenges supply chains structures. The point to emphasis about the recent scandal in Europe is not that products contain horse meat – many people eat it. It is that consumers were not told on the packaging; the product descriptions were therefore misleading and that is an offence. The scandal has begun to elicit comments from leading retailers. Most … Read More
A low cost service part is important
Failure of logistics. I currently have an exercise machine that is idle because the importer does not have a spring in stock – the sale price of the part is $5! So, I am continuing my (mostly bad) experiences with customer service and service parts. Here is an example of a supplier that considers a low cost part not to … Read More