A manufacturer's supply chain can deliver value that goes well beyond cost, quality and efficiency.

To help facilitate successful U.S. sourcing manufacturers must: • Bridge the gap between buyers and U.S. suppliers. • Forge strategic relationships. • Collaborate to solve design and production issues.

While the focus of the previous blog was on a specific tool that is fundamental to the practice of Next Generation Supply Management—namely, “policies”—this blog will focus on a widely applied traditional supply management...

The contract manufacturer is a hidden asset within the supply chain capable of delivering ideas, expertise and cost savings to companies willing to change the supplier paradigm.

The concept of “supply management policies” was introduced in the previous blog, "Supply Management Policies and How to Manage Them." To recap, they provide guidelines of practice for scenarios that are likely to occur during...

Leading manufacturers are pushing their sustainability efforts upstream, using incentives, business leverage, training programs and progress monitoring to improve their suppliers’ performance.

Going forward I plan to occasionally use this blog as a vehicle for sharing professional experiences that hopefully shed light on how to operate in a Next Generation Supply Management world. I understand that experience is usually the best teac...

A previous blog, “Should Procurement Have a Seat at the Table?” is directly related to the question of organizational structure. Consequently, the issue presented in the title to this blog is one that is loaded with emotion. Perhaps the best wa...

The September Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.8 points to 95.3 as small business owners continued to be cautious about growth prospects for the global economy. Only a net 5% of owners said they expect real sales volumes to increase...

A structural mismatch between domestic mineral supply and demand has created an obstacle to continued growth in U.S. manufacturing.