“We have seen that disruptions to supply chains caused by natural disasters — earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions — and from criminal and terrorist networks seeking to exploit the system or use it as a means of attack can adversely impact global economic growth and productivity,” Obama said in a letter dated Jan. 23 and released by the White House today.

“As a nation, we must address the challenges posed by these threats and strengthen our national and international policies accordingly.” See Bloomberg for full story

For healthcare procurement executives looking to bring in costs and improve compliance, a new trend is arising. GPO executives are deploying spends analysis more regularly to gain better visibility into areas of savings leakage and improve compliance tracking but they are also tapping the strategy for a new care quality purpose by aligning physician supply preferences with patient outcomes.

Procurement executives in hospitals and healthcare networks and GPOs are charged with, trimming the bottom line, but also face an even greater challenge – maintaining tight relationships with doctors to understand their product preferences and the connection to a much greater goal – the improvement of patient outcomes.
Cutting-edge GPOs are beginning to experiment with care results. By analyzing spend and tying products purchased back to positive patient outcomes, as well as cost, GPOs can decide what products make the most sense for the patients, as well as the bottom line.
With GPOs purchasing 100k plus categories on a monthly basis, advanced spend analysis is needed for this type of endeavor.

A Win-Win

Using spend analysis, GPOs can monitor contract compliance and improve patient outcomes with existing agreements to find missed opportunities for saving and to identify opportunities to improve patient outcomes with less costly product alternatives.

GPOs have a mountain of information at their fingertips – contracts, commitments, purchase history, invoices, vendor data and most importantly, supply, physician and procedure level patient outcome data. Spend analysis allows GPOs to enrich their spend data with outside information (market data, physician preferences, patient outcome data, etc.) to confirm that a contract is still providing value and to identify less expensive, more effective supply alternatives.
The high costs of healthcare dominate headlines and for good reason – purchasing a single pacemaker off-contract may be as much as $700 more than buying one from a vendor under contract. Physician preference items can be expensive. But if the cost can be justified by a better outcome, there is a greater value that is provided by the GPO beyond cost savings.

What’s the benefit for the GPO, why would they want to invest in areas that aren’t instrumental to savings – how can they measure success? By working with a company that is improving health, ultimately there is benefit which ties back to spend. Healthcare organizations want their patients to be healthy – but also on the economic front, they need to responsibly source their goods.

Spend analysis and patient outcomes seem like unlikely partners, but with 80% of overall healthcare spend controlled by the top GPOs, they are implementing spend analysis to find ways to make much needed cost reductions while upholding the same standard of care – deciding what products make the most sense for the patients, as well as the bottom line.

Paul Martyn

Paul Martyn is VP of Supply Strategy at BravoSolution, the spend analysis company.

Bryan Q. Eshelman has been promoted to Executive Vice President – Chief Supply Chain Officer, effective immediately. Eshelman joined Charming Shoppes in 2010 as Senior Vice President – Operations, with responsibility for technology, logistics, technical design and quality assurance.

As Chief Supply Chain Officer, he will retain responsibility for the aforementioned functions and assume the additional responsibility for the Company’s global direct sourcing operations, including, its buying offices in Hong Kong, China, and India, strategic sourcing across all product categories and brands, vendor compliance, and international trade and customs compliance.

In his expanded role, Eshelman is charged with accelerating the expansion and penetration of the Company’s vertical model and leveraging its supply chain to its fullest across all brands. Since joining Charming Shoppes, he has led a number of key initiatives relating to Charming Shoppes’ IT systems transformation and multi-faceted supply chain strategies. Eshelman continues to report directly to Anthony M. Romano, President and Chief Executive Officer of Charming Shoppes, Inc.

The Company also announced that Donna Isralsky has joined Charming Shoppes as Senior Vice President – Strategic Sourcing, reporting to Eshelman. Isralsky will be responsible for numerous strategic initiatives, supporting the expansion and penetration of the Company’s vertical model, and managing relationships with key suppliers. She has extensive experience in retail sourcing across all product categories, having spent her career as a senior sourcing executive and business leader at Williams-Sonoma, Reebok, and Target/Mervyns.

Commenting on Eshelman’s promotion, Anthony M. Romano, President and Chief Executive Officer of Charming Shoppes, Inc. stated, “I am very pleased to announce Bryan’s well-deserved promotion. During his tenure at Charming Shoppes, he has driven dramatic improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations and is working on a number of strategic initiatives that will help us maximize results and drive profitability.”

On Isralsky’s appointment, Eshelman said, “We are very happy that Donna has chosen to join Charming Shoppes. She brings a wealth of experience in retail sourcing and will help us to maximize our sourcing capabilities in a number of strategic growth areas.”

Charming Shoppes Inc

Hicks’ unparalleled expertise in sales and marketing strategy and supply chain management has been honed through a breadth of strategic positions. Recently, Hicks was the Vice President of Worldwide Services Sales and Marketing for Lenovo Computers and was responsible for long-term growth strategies and overall sales performance of the division. Prior to Lenovo, Hicks was a Vice President at Capgemini Consulting and led the West Supply Chain Practice, where he advised clients on how to optimize and virtualize their supply chains. He has also held key roles with Deloitte, Dell, Frito Lay and UPS.

Jay Bhatt, president and chief executive officer, Progress Software said: “Business leaders need real visibility to mitigate risks and take quick, decisive actions, and the supply chain presents an enormous opportunity to realize these benefits. Hicks’ expertise and leadership will help Progress customers deploy supply chain technologies that enable them to become more operationally responsive and build market share.”

Hicks earned his bachelor’s degree in Operations Management from Auburn University and his master’s of business administration from Emory University.

About Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software Corporation PRGS +1.42% is an independent enterprise software company that enables businesses to be operationally responsive to changing conditions and customer interactions as they occur — to capitalize on new opportunities, drive greater efficiencies and reduce risk. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class enterprise software spanning event-driven visibility and real-time response, open integration, data access and integration, and application development and deployment — all supporting on-premises and SaaS/Cloud deployments. Progress maximizes the benefits of operational responsiveness while minimizing IT complexity and total cost of ownership. Progress can be reached at www.progress.com or +1-781-280-4000 .

Progress and Progress Software are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software
Colleen Sheehan, +1 781-280-4362
csheehanatprogress.com
or
LEWIS PR
Kim Karelis, +1 617-226-8844
progresssoftware@lewispr.com
@ProgressSW

Copyright Business Wire 2011

A $1 million RFP for coal has been posted to Ariba Discovery®, the premier service for matching business buyers and sellers globally offered by Ariba, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA), the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions. Is it a coincidence? Or is the Indian manufacturing company behind the posting performing the work of elves?

“If the number of folks on his naughty list has grown, Santa may need to beef up his coal supply,” said Rob Mihalko, Vice President, Ariba Discovery. “And with Christmas just five days away, he’ll need to do it fast.”

As companies around the world have found, Ariba Discovery is the fastest, most efficient way to find new suppliers and lock in deals.

Delivered via the Ariba Network, Ariba Discovery is a unique cloud-based service that automatically matches buyer requirements with seller capabilities. Buyers using Discovery get access to a high-quality supply base and can reduce the time and cost of seller qualification by up to 90 percent, and overall project spend by 15 percent on average. Sellers can build relationships with real decision-makers in the world’s leading buying organizations and deliver valid buying opportunities faster than other marketing methods, boosting overall sales and marketing success.
In the past 12 months, more than 15,000 matches between buyers and sellers for more than $3 billion in business have been made through Ariba Discovery.

To learn more about the service and how your organization can benefit from it, visit http://discovery.ariba.com.

About Ariba, Inc.

Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions. Ariba combines industry-leading technology with the world’s largest web-based trading community to help companies discover, connect and collaborate with a global network of partners – all in a cloud-based environment. Using the Ariba® Commerce Cloud, businesses of all sizes can buy, sell and manage cash more efficiently and effectively. Over 700,000 around the globe use the Ariba Commerce Cloud to simplify inter-enterprise commerce and enhance results. Why not join them? To get on the path to Better Commerce visit: www.ariba.com/commercecloud/

OTHER RECENT QUIRKY POSTINGS ON ARIBA DISCOVERY:
• $100,000-$500,000 worth of gearbox housings
• $100,000 worth of towels
• $1 million to $5 million worth of fresh meat or poultry
• $10,000 worth of straw
• $1 million to $5 million of boilers
• $10,000 worth of genetics research services
• $10,000 worth of dolls
• $50,000 to $100,000 worth of gates
• $500,000 to $1 million worth of treats for cats or dogs
• $50,000 worth of hydrological surveys
• $10,000 to $50,000 worth of costumes
• $5 million worth of price tags
• $100,000 to $500,000 worth of energy conservation

On September 12, 2011, staff proposed additional modifications to the regulatory text in the Second Notice of Public Availability of Modified Text and Additional Documents and Information (Second 15-Day Change Notice). These modifications addressed comments ARB staff received in the first 15-day Change Notice and are the result of additional staff analysis and stakeholder engagement. The public comment period for the 2nd 15-Day Change Notice ended September 27, 2011.

On October 20, 2011, the Board adopted the final cap-and-trade regulation. As part of finalizing the regulation, the Board considered the related environmental analysis (i.e. functional equivalent document) and written responses to environmental comments. The Board also approved the adaptive management plan. The final regulation must be filed with the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) by October 28, 2011.

The final rulemaking package will include the Final Statement of Reasons (FSOR). In the FSOR, staff will respond to comments received on the record during the initial 45-day comment period, comments presented at the December 16, 2010 Board hearing both orally and in writing, comments received during the first 15-day Change Notice and the second 15-day Change Notice. The Administrative Procedure Act only requires that staff respond to changes that are noticed. Once final, those documents will be posted on the rulemaking web page.”

See the California Environmental Protection Agency: Air Resources Board website for more details and resources.

“We applaud President Obama for formally initiating the widely anticipated process to approve the three pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. This action allows Congress to finally consider and approve the country’s topmost trade agenda items later this month. A proactive trade agenda, including these important FTAs, will create new economic opportunities, promote U.S. exports, and sustain and grow well-paying U.S. jobs that rely on trade. RILA looks forward to bipartisan support in Congress for all three trade agreements, as well as renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences and Trade Adjustment Assistance.”

“American merchants and consumers will benefit from a robust and proactive trade agenda, including the implementation of these agreements, which can foster U.S. economic growth and job creation. Once the pending FTAs are ratified, RILA urges policymakers to devote more attention to other job-creating trade items, such as the ongoing Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

“We thank Congress and the Administration for their continued bipartisan support for the trade agenda, and we look forward to working on next steps in a swift and successful approval process for the FTAs.”

RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

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The SCPro™ program is a rigorous, three-level certification that offers global supply chain management professionals a way to demonstrate a broad range of industry skills and mastery of end-to-end supply chain functions.

“We are extremely excited to unveil CSCMP’s groundbreaking certification program at our annual conference,” said Rick Blasgen, CSCMP president and chief executive officer. “Our members overwhelmingly asked us to develop a comprehensive certification that diligently measured and accurately reflected an individual’s skills and knowledge across the entire supply chain.”

The program’s three levels are as follows:

• Level One: Cornerstones of Supply Chain Management
SCPro™ Level One covers the entire end-to-end supply chain with a focus on building customer relationships. This level is open to candidates who have either a bachelor’s degree or four years of relevant experience.

• Level Two: Analysis and Application of Supply Chain Challenges
This level tests a candidate’s ability to thoughtfully analyze real world case studies and formulate supply chain solutions which improve the supply chain in the short and long term.

• Level Three: Implementation of Supply Chain Transformation
The highest SCPro™ designation requires an unprecedented use of practical application, and marks the candidate as a leader who is not only valuable within his or her organization, but also of value to the profession.

“The SCPro™ certification will enable professionals to demonstrate to their employers that they are the kind of leaders who will positively impact their organizations’ bottom lines,” said Judy Schieve, manager of certification programs. “When a candidate completes all three levels of the program, he or she will also have a portfolio of work to augment his professional experience.”

The supply chain management profession has evolved dramatically over the past few decades, added Blasgen. “Today’s supply chain requires multidisciplinary capabilities, demonstrable and quantifiable success, and continuous study of the field. CSCMP’s SCPro™ certification provides professionals with an exceptional program that will help them demonstrate 21st century supply chain management skills and expertise.”

About CSCMP

Founded in 1963, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is the leading worldwide professional association dedicated to education, research, and the advancement of the supply chain management profession. With nearly 9,000 members globally, representing business, government, and academia from 63 countries, CSCMP members are the leading practitioners and authorities in the fields of logistics and supply chain management.
For more information, please contact:

Madeleine Miller-Holodnicki, ABC
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)
333 East Butterfield Road, Suite 140
Lombard, Illinois 60148-5617 USA
mholodnicki@cscmp.org

Previously, William Rooney held a number of senior management positions with Sea-Land Service for over a span of 25 years in the U.S. and Europe. He has also held senior management positions with GT Nexus and CMA-CGM. Paolo Montrone, North America Senior Vice President Seafreight, said, “We are very pleased to welcome William Rooney to lead our new strategic Transpacific efforts in the U.S. His comprehensive knowledge of the Transpacific trade will ensure Kuehne + Nagel continues to expand our seafreight solutions, ensuring that we are consistently meeting and exceeding the needs of our customers.” #

About Kuehne + Nagel

With more than 60,000 employees at 900 locations in over 100 countries, the Kuehne + Nagel Group is one of the world’s leading logistics companies. Its strong market position lies in the seafreight, airfreight, contract logistics and overland businesses, with a clear focus on providing IT-based lead logistics solutions.
For further information, please visit www.kuehne-nagel.com

What can you expect in 2011? CSCMP’s Annual Global Conference offers supply chain management practitioners more professional education and personal growth opportunities than any other event in the world. Learn from global experts and network with thousands of colleagues.

What’s in it for me?

•Learn ways to cut supply chain costs and improve your bottom line.
•Network with colleagues from all over the world.
•Discover new and innovative ideas that will keep you and your supply chain competitive.
•Get solutions that will improve the efficiency of your supply chain.

Why should you attend in 2011?

How many times do you get the opportunity to…… spend 4 days with “best-of-the-best” supply chain management experts and thousands of your SCM peers?

… explore current and soon-to-be-released technologies, tools, and services?
… attend current educational sessions on topics you want to learn about?
… get never before seen research, information, and trends that you can apply to your own business?
… ask your toughest questions to renowned experts, distinguished speakers, and community influencers

And get those questions answered!