Purchasing

I do not have a MySpace account nor anything posted on Facebook. Both of my kids are college age (one is graduating next week!) and I'm a bit afraid to run into them online. Not that they do anything bad mind you but no news is often good news. Yet I so think that social networking is an important aspect of Generation @ or even those of us from older generations.

This week I was invited by three people to join their personal networks on LinkedIn, a social network for professionals. I have been a member for a while and it seems to be growing. A few of my graduating students have sent me invitations as well as some folks I've worked with over the years. Of course, some networks are more intricate than others, but I have access to them all. I FEEL the value but I don't SEE the value.

 Maybe I'm wrong. I'm interested in your take on LinkedIn or other social networking sites. Please share the good, the bad, and the ugly if you get a chance.

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I am attending an event with students next week and they asked me what the dress code would be for the event(they are learning!). I said business casual and they asked me to define what that was. These two words strike fear in the heart of most folks I know, as the definition is often in the eye of the beholder. What is business casual for you is not necessarily business casual for me. Is it a blazer? A sweater? A golf shirt? Yikes. Why does it have to be so complicated?

 

Back in the day it was easy. A long-sleeved shirt and a tie would cover most office attire needs; maybe a jacket when visiting a supplier. It was just so easy, and predictable. I remember attending a trade show where one booth s...Read More

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I had the good fortune this week of speaking at this year's APICS Seminar 1 in Marlboro, Mass. Seminar 1 is an annual regional APICS educational conference and is led by colleague and friend Mike Walsh. He routinely does a nice job in bringing in a wide range of speakers and attendees. This year was no exception.

 

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It is an unusually warm (almost 80 degrees) afternoon on Boston's North Shore, so when I made my customary stop at Dunkin' Donut this noon for coffee today, I decided on an iced coffee….medium. The clerk told me apologetically that she'd have to prepare it in a large cup because they were out of medium cups. I told her to make it a large, thinking it would be awkward to make the mixture right. Perhaps I should have been offered a large at a medium price but that is a subject for a marketing blog.

 

As she was making the coffee (and as the manager walked behind her carrying two empty milk crates and banged off the wall…but that is a subject for an operations management blog) I hesitated to...Read More

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I recently had lunch with a bunch of friends and we began to chat about the different types of managers that we've worded for over the years. After twenty five years in high tech electronics companies, I've had my share of good, and poor, managers. Some were excellent, and supported a reasonable work life balance, encouraged ISM and APICS certification, and let us work on leading edge supply management initiatives. Some looked at their management assignment as a stepping stone to another position and hardly paid attention to the hundreds of details that seem to exist in any supply management organization. Still others were corrupt and unethical. As the conversation continued, I found myself searching in my mind for my best manager. I thought through the positions I've held during my career. But then it hit me. Marty! Marty was my first manager. Marty was my best manager. Marty is my fat...Read More

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As a freshman in college during the 1973 recession I once wrote "money is tight" on an economics exam and the professor circled it and wrote that it was an inappropriate comment. Economically, it may be. But reality is another matter. 

Money IS tight right now. Your company may be feeling a cash flow crunch. Your customers may be paying later and access to revolving credit may be harder to come by. Companies need to keep the lights on and pay employees (and those executive salaries!). But often payments to suppliers begin to stretch….and stretch.

 

You should be aware of this before it becomes an issue for your suppliers. And, this is where your supplier relationships come into play. Your finance folks should be lettin...Read More

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I am a wire and cable guy. In most of my manufacturing jobs I've had responsibility for cable assemblies and harnesses; from buying raw material to overseeing the outsourcing of cable and harness operations, I've seen a lot of hook-up wire, cable ties, and connectors. I even worked for a cable assembly company for a couple of years. Maybe not a glamorous commodity, but for many years it was my bread and butter.

So, it is with great interested that I watch, listen, and read about the problems with American Airlines, and the others airlines, about potential wire harness issues. And I'm wondering if this is just the tip of the iceberg. If planes are turning around in 20 minutes at the terminal, how fast are they going through maintenance? And what els...Read More

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I'll bet more than one supplier has come into your office in the past few weeks trying to pass on a price increase caused by an increase in fuel costs. With the cost of diesel fuel in the news every day, and prices at the gas pump still high, how can we all not be sensitive to the increased cost of business? There is a way.

Work towards surcharges linked to a published index rather than an overall price increase. You are acknowledging the increase in the cost of business but drawing a line at a general price increase. And be careful. Some unscrupulous suppliers might also use the fuel increase as an 'excuse' to raise prices even if their margins are safe.

Volatile commodities are not new and many of us veteran buyers have been through this fuel thing before. You've also seen pricing issues with precious metals, plastic resins, and foreign exchange as...Read More

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I have just passed my sixth year as a full timer in academia and I must say it is a nice life. I love to teach and help people and standing in front of a group of students explaining the nuances of plant layout, supply chain management, or business strategy makes me happy. The fact that they take notes on what I say certainly feeds my ego. Or maybe they are just doodling?

 

I also have some administrative responsibilities and one of them this year is to handle the marketing efforts of my college division. It has been fun working with suppliers again as I spend some decent money on a variety of advertising media. I've met with a lot of media folks during the past 10 months or so from regional radio, print, telev...Read More

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Are the meetings that you attend lately filled with those with laptops and the ubiquitous BlackBerry tap-tap-tapping away? According this article in the Boston Globe, there is building resistance to those technology tools. Why? Not enough people are paying attention to what is going on in the meeting. Some have called for "top-less" meetings…..ahem….meetings without ...Read More

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In its own way, the economy hit home today. I decided to pass by Dunkin Donuts this morning and make coffee in the office. Lousy coffee. It was not that there were not enough Dunkin Donuts on my short route to work. In fact, we now give driving directions in Massachusetts using Dunkin Donuts stores as waypoints rather than traffic lights.

 

I passed by Dunkin Donuts because of the cost. My large coffee with a shot of espresso is closing in on the cost of a gallon of gas. I had an alternate choice of coffee and I took it. Free but lousy coffee in the office or a DD treat? The office won and I am $2.75 ahead for the day.

 

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Perhaps the pressures of a sagging global economy are beginning to take their toll on a beleaguered purchasing community, but ethics, or lack thereof, is in the news again. Seems like a supermarket potato buyer in the UK was arrested for accepting some pretty impressive bribes (more than $6 million worth, according to the report in the Guardian). And now other partners in the company's supply chain are also under investigation ands more arrests may be coming.

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