Your supplier’s motivation. Buying decisions can be subjective, with buyers possibly having inbuilt bias towards a particular supplier. But one of the challenging aspects of Procurement is to consider which supplier is the ‘best’ for an item or service and is the ‘best’ the right supplier? Suppliers exist in business to sell you their offer. Potential suppliers can present very … Read More
Supply chains are too complex to be managed
Your business can be complex. How would you attempt to manage your supply chains when it is difficult enough to manage your own business? Too many articles and blogs that talk about ‘managing supply chains’ seem to assume that it can be done, but avoid describing how to achieve success. The individual supply chains that make up the supply network … Read More
Know your supply markets for best procurement outcomes
Making assumptions is easy. We are always learning from our mistakes. When buying products or services, we can make errors based on our assumptions. My recent error was caused through not being thorough in the market research for a new office. The assumption made was that as the new office is closer to the city, communications was a given; therefore … Read More
SNAP Apps Improve Supply Chain Analysis and Planning
You cannot manage supply chains. At the heart of an effective supply network is your IT system. As supply chains become a more critical part of successful businesses, so responsibility for the effectiveness of the supply network will rest with the supply chain vice president/ director/manager. Changes in the business climate will continue to force changes in business models; with … Read More
ERP systems may not give your business all the answers
Working within complex systems. Supply chain planners should be able to access more than transaction data from company IT systems. There is streaming data from instruments and unstructured data from the Internet. These are in increasing amounts; but can your current ERP system turn this additional data into information that is of value to planners? The selection and implementation of ERP … Read More