Julian Schwerdtfeger

Many companies lack the necessary communication in supply chain transformations. This is according to Supply Chain Media’s own recent research among 81 executives at European multinationals. Often, the business and supply chain strategy are not clear, the benefits of the transformation are not properly addressed and the sense of urgency is missing. How are supply chain executives in Europe acting on these strategic transformations? To compile Supply Chain Media’s annual Top 28 Supply Chain Executives Europe, IG&H consulting manages a database with the profiles of the three hundred European supply chain executives eligible for this ranking. Using AI, IG&H automatically tracks how visible these executives are. How often do they post on LinkedIn or get quoted in articles? How often do they give a presentation or guest lecture? IG&H links this data to the financial performance of these supply chain executives’ companies. This analysis provides a good picture of the executives’ supply chain performance. At Supply Chain Media BV, Nicole Messink analyses which editorial topics scores well and the influence of GenAI in this. In an age of increasingly fake news, personal communication is becoming increasingly important to convey a message with confidence, especially online. I will discuss these important topics with Jasper van Rijn, Managing Director at IG&H, and Nicole Messink, Marketer at Supply Chain Media in an interactive webinar on Wednesday 11 December from 4-5pm CET. You can register for his interactive webinar here: https://lnkd.in/eGsbE73A Maarten Vaessen Sander K. Cazijn Langeler Kristel Lanjouw Szilvia V. Ruud Schoenmakers Karèn Sarkisyan Niels Bartels Marcel te Lindert Hugo Berentsen

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After reading the article about Germany's struggle to clean up its #supplychains, #procurementleaders should focus on the following: ➡Navigating Compliance Challenges: #Procurement leaders need to prioritize understanding and navigating compliance challenges posed by new legislation such as Germany's Supply Chain Act and the upcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. This involves ensuring that their organizations are prepared to meet the #duediligence requirements related to monitoring #suppliers' #humanrights and #environmental protection standards. ➡Enhancing Transparency and Traceability: Given the complexities of global #supplychains and the difficulties in obtaining accurate information, #procurementleaders should focus on enhancing #transparency and #traceability throughout their #supplynetworks. This involves implementing technologies such as #blockchain and #digitaltwin solutions to track and trace #materials and #products, as well as ensuring robust communication channels with #suppliers to obtain necessary information. ➡Building Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains: #Procurementleaders need to prioritize building #resilient and #sustainable #supplychains that can withstand #regulatory pressures and mitigate risks related to #forcedlabour and #environmentaldamage. This involves collaborating closely with #suppliers to address issues such as workers' rights and environmental protections, as well as investing in technologies like Alcumus SafeContractor which enable control tower views for real-time visibility and risk management. To address these challenges, #procurementleaders may need technology software solutions such as: ⚡Supply Chain Compliance: Comprehensive supply chain management and compliance with Alcumus SafeContractor can help #procurementleaders streamline processes, manage supplier relationships, and ensure compliance with regulations in addition to embedding a robust H&S, ESG, Sustainability and Insurances pre-qualification process that surfaces risk and monitors non-compliance risk factors. ⚡Blockchain Technology: Implementing blockchain technology can enhance transparency and traceability by creating immutable records of transactions and product movements across the supply chain. ⚡Digital Twin Solutions: Digital twin solutions enable procurement leaders to create virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, allowing for real-time monitoring and optimization of supply chain operations. By focusing on these key areas and leveraging appropriate technology solutions, procurement leaders can navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance and build more resilient and sustainable supply chains. https://lnkd.in/eQN7ua8a

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Take a look at the top 10 Supply Chain frameworks used by management consultants!

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[Free Whitepaper] Top 10 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Frameworks >> https://lnkd.in/ezmH2wBs Here are the top 10 SCM frameworks used by management consultants. What do you think of this list? The importance and usefulness of business frameworks in the consulting world—especially among the global strategy firms—cannot be overstated. For consulting firms, these frameworks are part of the bread and butter that enable them to consistently deliver value to client organizations across industries and geographies. If you find this whitepaper useful, please like, comment, and share this post! Also, tag your colleagues and friends. #supplychain #supplychainmanagement #supplychainanalysis #supplychainstrategy #SCM #operations #transformation #strategy #consulting #sourcing #procurement #logistics #warehousing #transportation #distribution #retail

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How are buyers on the customer’s side organized?       One way to assess this is to look at the company’s supply chain management design, which the procurement function makes part of.   A CAPS report indicates that roughly 50% of supply chains are centrally led, meaning strategic decisions are made by a central team whereas transactional processes and the execution are managed on a local/regional level.   44% of companies follow a centralized approach. This means all supply chain decisions and actions are channeled through a centralized organization.   7% of businesses operate their supply chains decentrally.   The CAPS report also highlights a 6% increase in center-led organizations at the expense of decentralized organizations over the past couple of years.   This means that the buyer on the customer’s side is centrally organized at least on a strategic level, in almost all cases.   As sales managers, are you aware and in touch with the central, strategic buying teams on your customer’s side? Or are you struggling to get past the more transactionally focused buyer at a local level?   As procurement professionals, which supply management approach do you prefer? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?     Let’s have a conversation and build bridges between procurement and sales.   --------------- I build bridges between #procurement and #sales – one brick at a time. 🥇 I train sales and procurement professionals to unleash their customer-centricity mindset with the unique FIVIS approach.  

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Due to the numerous extreme economic and geopolitical challenges in the world, there remains a strong need for supply chain consultancy, especially in the areas of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), strategy and network design. But the financial picture of the diverse consulting firms in the European arena varies considerably: from growth to under considerable pressure. These are the main observations from the annual survey for the SCM Consulting Subway Map of Europe by Supply Chain Media BV. The need for supply chain consultancy among companies in Europe remained high in 2023. Last year, 72% of the 32 consulting firms surveyed realized more supply chain projects compared to 2022. This growth rate in realized projects is lower than in 2020 and in 2021, with 95% and 86% respectively. In terms of profitability, there was indeed a turnaround compared to previous years. In 2022, 83% of the consulting firms surveyed saw profits increase, whereas last year this percentage fell to 53% and 19% even saw a decrease. Especially the big, well-known strategy consulting firms, such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain & Company and Roland Berger, struggled in 2023 and had to accept a fall in profits, introduce a vacancy freeze and sometimes lay off employees. These disappointing results apply to a lesser extent to the four major consulting firms with an accounting arm: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. S&OP, IBP and digital twins The ongoing war in Ukraine and more recently in the Gaza Strip have led to extreme geopolitical tensions. One clear consequence are the trends of (partial) reshoring of production from China to Europe and Mexico, and more regional distribution and logistics. These trends lead to a continued need for network studies and scenario analysis of international logistics flows by specialized consultancies such as Buck Consultants International, Diagma, Districon, Logivations and SCOPE8 (formerly Visagio). In terms of the most implemented projects, networks studies as well as consultancy on supply chain strategy and product portfolio shared second place, both with 53%, behind S&OP which once again topped the list with 59%. You can download this SCM Consulting Subway Map Europe 2024, free of charge, here: https://lnkd.in/eKnyXTgm #supplychain #businessconsulting #salesandoperationsplanning #strategy #networkdesign #resilience Hugo Berentsen Niels Bartels Tiffany van Kasteel Alfons Willemsen Jasper Van Rijn Jack Pool Patrick Haex Johan Smits Erik Diks CATHY P. Sabrina LABORDE Marcel Wilhelms Olivier Van Der Brugge André Vriens Chris Turley Christoph Plapp Ralf Hoffmann Alice Barrett Rolf Bos Stefan Schrauf Leonardo Uehara Bram DesmetMartin Kruschel DIAGMA | smarter and more sustainable Supply Chain designers Districon | MASTERING YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS Allard Vegter Knut Alicke Christian Titze

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Ever wondered what really makes up Supply Chain Management? In my latest video on the Procurement Channel I explain the six core components that define SCM. With over 25 years of experience and leading one of Germany's top supply chain consultancies, I break down everything from procurement to customer support through my experience. Discover the distinct roles and how they interconnect to drive successful operations. Don’t miss out—watch the full video now to master the art of Supply Chain Management! https://lnkd.in/d6fPgqdk #supplychain #supplychainmanagement #procurement #logistics #kloepfelconsulting

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I am seeing an interesting pattern in growing companies. For procurement processes, there are well-defined practices in place. If you need to purchase a small table, you'll likely need to follow a standard process: - Get pre-configured approvals for the spend - Obtain a Purchase Order (PO) number - Vendors must use the PO number for invoicing - All POs are recorded in the ERP or accounting software as system records But, when it comes to headcount, which often accounts for over 70% of the spending for most companies, there seems to be no such standardized process. I've noticed various approaches: - Some ask for headcount via emails - Some through a hallway conversation - Some through a meeting - Some through a pre-built form And there's often no clear guideline on who should approve and what information is needed. Once approved, where is the system record of approved positions? The budgeting tool, the ATS tool, and the spreadsheets maintained by various stakeholders could give you different answers. In a recent conversation with a well-reputed enterprise, they faced this exact pain point. The approved positions in Workday and Greenhouse, as well as the spreadsheets owned by the chief of staff or finance, were rarely consistent. And remember, every headcount matters. People have to spend a lot of time tracking back the source of each headcount decision and confirming it. We also often see examples where a business partner says they have a new headcount approved and asks the recruiting team to start hiring. Later on, they found out that the headcount was not really approved. The boss was just saying it's a good idea, which doesn't mean approval. Or finance comes back, telling them there is no budget. But the recruiting team has already spent quite some time hiring for the positions. Sound familiar? This got me thinking we needed better solutions. Solutions where headcount planning and approvals are standardized, centralized, and automated, just like how POs are managed for procurement. P.S. I'm Warren Wang, the CEO and founder of Doublefin. Before that, I spent 12 years at Google in finance leadership roles, including in Corp FP&A driving company-wide financial planning, headcount planning, and later as a finance director, where I managed multi-billion-dollar marketing investments and led a global team of 40 managers and analysts.

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The importance of procurement in successful product design #MarcKloepfel #businessadvice #supplychain #procurement #procurementmanagement #businessadvice #business #supplychainOAE #procurementOAE #AI #innovation #technology #negotiations

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💵 Attention Procurement Teams: It’s time to fight back and reduce costs 👉The August Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) i.e. shows a promising trend for Procurement pros: “The average prices charged for goods and services increased globally in July at the joint-slowest rate since October 2020". Cost-efficient Procurement ensures financial stability and enables investment in innovation and growth amid economic uncertainty. Thus, reducing costs is critical for enhancing an organization's profitability and operational efficiency.  In 2024, cost management has become a top priority for many Procurement teams as it is even more crucial due to rising inflation, global supply chain disruptions, weak economies, and increased competition. 🫰🏻After years of 10%+ increases, it is time to fight back, if you haven't started yet. No take it or leave it anymore. It is time to act and end the era of no pushback. ✅What to do; 📌Renegotiate contracts to secure lower prices, adjust inventory, explore long-term agreements 📌Reassess supplier pricing strategies, pass savings to product pricing, and invest in innovation or value-added services. 📌Collaborate with suppliers to optimize cost structures, ensuring mutual benefits. 📌Monitor market trends closely to ensure timely responses, maintaining a competitive edge ✅Selected value levers: 📌Skills & Human Power: Invest in skills (Negotiation & Cost Management training) 📌Supplier Consolidation (but understand the supply risk that comes with it) 📌Demand Management (Involve stakeholders) 📌Establish a Supplier Negotiation program to achieve better terms 📌Cost Structure Analysis: Identify opportunities for cost reduction 📌Strategic Sourcing: Improve your strategic sourcing. Select suppliers that offer the best value rather than just the lowest price. 📌Category Management: Manage Categories as strategic business units, and efficiency 📌Risk & Compliance Management: Avoid unplanned costs from unstable supply chains, missing risk monitoring, and not adhering to regulatory Procurement must play a pivotal role in driving cost reductions across the organization. The combination of supplier consolidation, demand management, strategic sourcing, risk & compliance management, and continuous skill development creates a comprehensive approach to cost management. What have you done so far and what is your 2024 cost-down-storyline? targetP evolving procurement

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I've just finished reading Launch of the Century by Richard Markoff and Florian Magnani. It's a nice story, which follows a pretty typical scenario that many supply chain managers will have faced during their career. The book uncovers some of the challenges and trade offs needed to run a complex supply chain. I would really recomend that people, who work in functions outside supply chain management, new supply chain management employees and business management students read this book to understand a little more about our world

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Is the procurement function losing touch with its customers? The Hackett Group conducted a study to analyze how procurement teams engage and interact with their internal customers. The results do not look good: 📌 Only 2% have a dedicated customer engagement team. 📌 Only 18% have customer management processes in place. 📌 Only 56% align stakeholders as part of their sourcing strategy process. 📌 24% have no process at all in place to align with internal customers. I assume we can all agree that procurement is a service function with the purpose of providing support to their internal stakeholders enabling them to reach company goals. How can this be achieved if we do not engage appropriately with our internal customers? What do you think? How do you interact with your internal stakeholders as procurement professionals? ----------------------- Let’s build bridges between #procurement and #sales - one brick at at time. 🥇 I train sales and procurement professionals to unleash their customer-centricity mindset.

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20 months ago, I stopped talking to Supply Chain Executives. And no: •Not because I don't like them. •I've been in Supply Chain myself for so long. •Strangely I love Supply Chain (Yeah crazy !). But because the real impact of the Supply Chain is on the company's P&L The first person who should be interested Is the CEO, followed by the divisional VPs. In short, the ones in charge of the business. Since I started learning how to talk the business language to top executives, and drop the Supply Chain jargon: •I got more top executives' buy-in •I spent less time getting budget approved •I got my complex SC concepts much more understood I've launched a series of physical events on S&OP where I explained this. Click on the link in the comments section to register 👇 If you don't find your city send me a message, my team may be able to accomodate some new locations. ♺ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network. ► Follow me to never miss a post.

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🚀 Book Recommendation: The Launch of the Century A captivating and insightful dive into modern Supply Chain Management. 📚 If I had to recommend one book to anyone exploring the world of Supply Chain, it would be The Launch of the Century by Florian Magnani and Richard Markoff, PhD. This is exactly the kind of book I wish I had during my internship as a Supply Chain Engineer at L'Oréal, working on product launches. 🌟 Through a compelling fictional narrative, it breaks down the complexities of launching a product. It dives into real-world challenges, from coordinating with diverse stakeholders like production, quality, procurement, planning, marketing, and suppliers, to applying proven methodologies such as Lean, PDCA, SMED, and effective communication and feedback. 🎯 It’s perfect for: 👨‍🎓 Students and newcomers seeking an engaging introduction to the field; 🏭 Professionals looking to reflect on their practices or refine their methods; 🧐 Anyone curious about the behind-the-scenes of modern industry. This book is more than a story; it’s a toolbox and a mirror for anyone involved in Supply Chain, whether you’re starting out or looking for fresh perspectives. 🙏 A big thank you to Florian Magnani who was also my professor at Centrale Méditerranée, and Richard Markoff, PhD for creating such a remarkable piece of work. Your ability to make complex concepts accessible while keeping readers hooked is truly inspiring. I highly recommend it to students, schools, and professionals alike—it’s a valuable resource for navigating and thriving in the ever-evolving world of Supply Chain. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ehAtWkj5 #SupplyChain #OperationsManagement #LeanManagement #Innovation #BookRecommendation

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The sales function on the supplier’s side and the procurement function on the customer’s side are often perceived as unreconcilable polar opposites.   The former is only interested in higher prices whereas the latter tries to bring down costs as much as possible. The continued focus on past (bad) experiences with one’s respective sales or procurement counterpart only exacerbates this view and makes it a seemingly self-fulfilling prophecy. Seeing procurement and sales as polar opposites, and their relationship as combative is an outdated way to think. The seller and the buyer form the foundational link between B2B companies. It is them that create value by steering and managing the relationship across company borders.     Sales and procurement professionals have effectively the same goals and can be seen rather as the two faces of the same coin: 💡What procurement and sales professionals are mandated to do by their individual businesses, by their CEOs is to assess opportunities and risks in the value chain that supplier and customer share with each other, to link capabilities with business needs, and to find solutions that drive demand in the value chain to the benefit of all parties involved. Why does it seem so difficult for procurement and sales teams to focus on what they were actually meant to do? Why are we still struggling to build trusting relationships between the seller and the buyer? 👉 What is your view on this? -------------------------- Let’s build bridges between #procurement and #sales – one brick at a time. 🥇 I train sales and procurement professionals to unleash their customer-centricity mindset.

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Imagine for one second if Procurement got paid commission on savings… Sounds good right? I mean if Salespeople can get it on sales, why can’t Procurement get it on savings?? Granted it could: • Motivate procurement to continuously focus on cost reduction • Align with company profit goals  • Attract top talent. • Work for a year and retire (great for the individual - not so great for the business!!)   BUT here’s why I believe it WON’T work: • It misaligns priorities and focuses excessively on short-term savings • You end up cherry-picking easy/transactional savings over strategic priorties • It would strain key supplier relationships • It’s difficult to accurately measure savings • Could create internal compensation conflicts and culture issues.   Do you think it could work? _________________________ 😃 Hi I'm Steve Walton. I help companies to fully realize the value procurement brings in terms of cost savings, risk mitigation, supplier innovation and sustainability. DM me if you’re ready to move procurement beyond a tactical purchasing function and need consultancy and training. 💸📉📊

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𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴—𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘵. A recent McKinsey survey reveals 66% of CPOs are yet to be convinced about AI (see link in comments). In this same article, the consultant also explains where AI creates value in procurement: • 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Generation of RFP documents and contractual clauses. • 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Collecting autonomously data from vendors and helping negotiations. • 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀: Creating insights from unstructured content such as vendor responses. • 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Helping bridge data from various procurement systems and simplify tech roadmaps. AI is a key capability that procurement organizations need to evolve and provide a competitive advantage. The question now is more which use case to prioritize ? and how to take it to market ? While good results can be achieved at the individual level through smart 'prompts,' scaling a product for collective use is essential to compound the benefits. At Vektiq, we have specialized in one use case x one category:  sourcing x software It encompasses the full process: • problem statement generation (RFP generation) • vendors engagement • vendors evaluation and negotiation strategy    whether it is a new acquisition, a renewal or a consolidation. And you what use case to improve in priority with AI? Would you rather Make or Buy ? #procurement #technology #software  ware

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In recent years, there has been a significant decline in the number of supply chain start-ups appearing in Europe. According to Mathias Bosse, compiler of the Supply Chain Tech Report, one of the reasons is that companies are currently less inclined to serve as launching customers. However, he expects the rise of generative AI to lead to a new wave of tech companies. Supply Chain Media BV’s annual Maturity Matrix contains a number of these new start-ups. The market of tech companies in logistics and supply chain has really taken off over the past decade. “Corporate executives and investment funds started to realize how super-important supply chains actually are for the economy, and how vulnerable they are to disruptions and other forms of uncertainty,” explains Bosse, who is also the founder of German company Prequel Ventures, which invests in supply chain start-ups. “At the same time, there are lots of smart people with innovative ideas and technology to meet these pressing needs in the supply chain. Not least because existing supply chain systems at companies are no longer adequate. For supply chain planning and execution, companies still work a lot with Excel and get far too little added value from their large amount of data.” For the seventh consecutive year, Supply Chain Media has published this Maturity Matrix of European start-ups and scale-ups that are up to five years old. This maximum age means that some start-ups and scale-ups automatically disappear from the list every year, even though they are still in the market. The maturity of these young companies in the matrix is based on age, number of employees, awards won, number of customers and, most importantly, capital raised. The overview separates start-ups from scale-ups, mainly based on a minimum financial funding of €2 million. You can download the Maturity Matrix of European Supply Chain Start-ups 2024 here: https://lnkd.in/epdFnVKH #supplychain #innovation #startups #artificialintelligence #visibility #digitaltwin #sustainability Markus Börner Peter Schram Jasper Van Rijn Emilia Jevakhoff Amin Kaboli Eric Baudier Christof Bitschnau Johannes Matt Nicolas Lassal Romain Fayolle Alexandru Campean Lara Obst Yasha Tarani Tariq Farooq Thijs Gitmans Susan Veenes-Lenderink Niels Bartels Tiffany van Kasteel Harm Beerens Mirjam Hulsebos Marcel te Lindert Christian Titze Wolfgang Weber Wolfgang Lehmacher David Schwartz Jeroen van Weesep Dr. Dirk Holbach Marian Temmen Sean Culey

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