Purchasing

We can get inundated with the seemingly endless economic and financial reports blasting through the Internet, the radio, and on television. One economic measure in today's Wall Street Journal that caught my attention was an increase in worker productivity. That is, another increase.

Let the supply management profession take some (not all) credit for that increase in productivity. After years of working with suppliers on process improvements, quality initiatives, leaning out operations, and even the old standby of simplification, increases in productivity are not only finding their way to the factory floor, but to leading economic indicators as well.

How many times have we heard "work smarter not harder" when faced with headcount reductions? Well, it looks as if that smarter working is leading to some significant economic gains. It very well may be keeping the U.S. economy out of recession. So, thank a supply management pro today.