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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 [...]

When the White House issued the Executive Order for Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service on April 27, 2011, I’m pretty sure that the procurement officers in federal agencies weren’t called into the meetings on how the organization would move forward on creating the customer service plan called for by the President. After all, [...]

So far in this series on Avoiding Procurement Malpractice, we’ve examined spend visibility and analysis as critical elements of best-in-class procurement practices. In this final installment, we look at the role of process. The complexity of today’s trading partner relationships and business volatility combine to increase the pace and pressure on procurement organizations to make [...]

In this 3-part series, we’re looking at the procurement disciplines that can help procurement executives and teams design and execute truly effective sourcing strategies in face of whatever the global economy brings. In the first post, we looked at using spend analysis to gain visibility across enterprise-wide spend as paramount to identifying the opportunities to [...]

I keep hearing that the recovery is here. I’m pretty sure that most of us want to believe that 2011 will see the lifting of the dark and gloomy economic cloud that’s dampened our days for almost 3 years. But people I respect when it comes to these questions are pointing to real indicators that [...]

Emptoris, Inc. (“Emptoris”), a leading provider of strategic supply management and enterprise contract management solutions, today announced its acquisition of Rivermine, Inc. (“Rivermine”), one of the market’s leading Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solution providers. With the acquisition, Emptoris expands its award-winning solution suite, adds a portfolio of new Global 1000 companies to its customer base, [...]

Yes, sad to say it but this is coming weekend is the last of what has been an absolutely glorious summer! But now it’s time to get back in the saddle and take the world’s supply chains to the next level and what better way to do this than engaging in some professional development! SCN [...]

Most organizations have a diverse spend portfolio that includes many simple, several moderately simple and a few complex spends. To address each spend appropriately, we need to understand the dynamics that make each event complex. For starters, let’s look to another ‘multi-faceted’ puzzle; the Rubik’s Cube. Invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik, Rubik’s Cube has [...]

Leveraging the data from 209 recently surveyed companies, this report investigates the impact of supply chain intelligence on performance and the use of business intelligence (BI) tools by the top-performing study participants. Specific focus is put on the enablement of supply chain processes by advanced BI technologies that are pervasive and role based, i.e. the [...]

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) announced today that John M. Vazquez has been named vice president of vendor sourcing and corporate services as well as chief procurement officer, effective immediately. In this new role, Vazquez will lead the IT vendor management and sourcing and global procurement teams at MetLife in addition to his current duties as [...]

From ISM.ws : “This program is designed for supply management professionals responsible for not only acquiring services but also for developing the supply chain strategies that support the goals and objectives of the organization. Focusing on diverse examples of both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing services purchasing, the program will greatly benefit professionals with a solid supply [...]

In a perfect world, component buyers would never have a shortage, forecasts would be accurate and authorized channels would always have stock. Sadly, we live in the real world where markets are volatile and manufacturers face recurring shortages. Longer supply chains, more players, more volatile markets, more counterfeit parts. These forces are changing the risk [...]

Check out our SupplyChainNetwork search results for the term “supply chain innovation”. As we appear to finally be hitting bottom relative to the current recession, there’s no better time to introduce innovative ideas and innovation into your supply chain to both improve service and reduce costs. http://bit.ly/Z4YoV

From cnn.com: “More than one-third of all weapons the United States has procured for Afghanistan’s government are missing, according to a government report released Thursday. The U.S. military failed to “maintain complete inventory records for an estimated 87,000 weapons — or about 36 percent — of the 242,000 weapons that the United States procured and [...]

From purchasing.com: ” A series of interviews with global sourcing experts confirms the findings of a recent Procurement Strategy Council report outlining the potential damage that hidden costs can do to the savings potential of a global sourcing program. According to a recent report from the Procurement Strategy Council, the most overlooked cost issues in [...]

From Ariba.com : “In a recent interview with WallSt TV, our company’s President quoted a stat that really puts the impact of the recession on corporate profits and the opportunity that situation provides for procurement organizations in perspective. Kevin Costello said it takes a “20% increase in sales to create the same profits as a [...]