Key Performance Indicators for Businesses
Mike Farrell talks about Key Performance Indicators and why they are so important to businesses. He includes some useful tips on things to consider as you create your own KPIs.
Three Bids and a Buy
Anyone who has been involved in selling goods and services in the business to business environment has undoubtedly come across the scenario where their offering looks good to the customer, yet they are unable to close the deal as the other party in the transaction needs “three bids”. Although this is often unavoidable where public…
Increasing Productivity: A Supply Chain Perspective
Productivity and efficiency are topics that have historically been high on the list of focused activities for most businesses, and seems like common sense. Productivity, by definition, is the ratio of inputs to outputs….so if we focus on minimizing inputs and maximizing outputs, we are more productive, and will see a positive impact on the…
The Challenge of Foreign Exchange
In response to the challenges faced by your organization in the current highly competitive marketplace, you take the lead and start to think “outside the box”. You have spent the past several months looking for new sources of supply, and have finally put a deal together to import a key cost driver, resulting in significant…
Value Creation in the Supply Chain
Supply Chain Management, and in particular the tasks associated with procurement activities, are often thought of as a “do-it-yourself” function by business leaders. Many organizations still believe that it is something that most people can do. After all, people buy cars, houses, and groceries, so they have years of experience in this area, right? The…
Is Increased Lead Time Really the Issue?
The Global Sourcing debate… a strategy that requires careful consideration and a weighing of the pros and cons. Global sourcing is not for everyone, and like most other strategic decisions, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Global Sourcing is a strategic decision that should be closely tied to overall corporate strategy. But how does the…
Warehouse Efficiency: Maximizing your Distribution Capacity
When it comes to warehousing and storage, many people think of these functions as a necessary but added cost centre that cannot be avoided. And although in most cases they are indeed essential to growing an organization’s business that is not always the case. Think of the added cost of a two-stage distribution system. Are…
The Art of the Tender
As a Supply Chain Professional, I have had the privilege of spending my entire career in the private sector… Not that there is anything wrong with the public sector, but I’ve always taken the approach of staying about as far away from the laws of competitive bidding as I could possibly get. Why would I…
Vendor Managed Inventory: Benefits and Risks
Many people outside of the Supply Chain world think of the Purchasing department as a function to simply obtain the lowest possible unit cost for the goods and services we need. Although there is some grain of truth in a traditional definition such as this, we in the Supply Chain world understand it to be…
ISO and Supplier Quality
Many people in business today are familiar with ISO, and their series of standards that have been in the marketplace now for decades. Opinions on the effectiveness of ISO vary, and most people that I talk to think of it simply as the dreaded annual audit they go through to ensure that their organization maintains…