Pete Mayer

Corruption in procurement is not often discussed, but with the emphasis on supplier relationships and vendor management, there is ample opportunity for it. Bid rigging and price fixing are two areas procurement can easily be impacted. It can be a slippery slope between fostering solid supplier relationships and ethical breaches like bribes. How can procurement avoid corruption while also building solid relationships? This article has gotten me thinking about moral code and how to ensure ethics don't lapse. https://lnkd.in/eTkVJ-TM

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Norman Katz highlights the stark difference between "supplier" and "vendor" in the supply chain world. In short, suppliers provide raw materials and components while vendors offer more finished products. However, while different, both pureed constant quality checks for efficiency and safety. To really make supply chains succeed at their full capability, we have to prioritize bolstering communication between those managing suppliers and the managing vendors. This kind of cross-department collaboration could help avoid problems or even increase innovation. #SupplyChain #Suppliers #Vendors

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As a Supply Chain executive facilitating S&OP, vigilance, strict monitoring, and documenting all promises is key to surviving the demands of Sales and Marketing.

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MARINO ASSOCIATES, LLC LEAN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Marino Associates believes there is potential for positive change and more important projects for a company to concentrate in the area of Lean Supply Chain Management.   As a key contributor to your company, you are continuously challenged to reduce costs, improve on-time delivery, reduce inventory liability, and provide a progressively greater level of achievement. At the same time, you face internal workforce reductions and the need to do more and more with less and less. It's essential to concentrate your time, money, and energy effectively. Involving your employees in high-return projects is also important. Lean Supply Chain Management can unite various departments within your company with a common goal that resonates universally: reducing costs and improving the bottom line.   Marino Associates can provide you with consulting, mentoring, part-time contract assistance in key areas of materials, procurement, and manufacturing, and reasonably priced in-house education.  Our Lean Supply Chain Management process breaks down the elements of Lean Supply Chain Management into simple and agile projects, with each project achieving results and savings, therefore self-funding and overall program. Special care is taken to plan these projects so that they link together and form a total solution. This approach also allows for short-term victories, giving your employees a sense of accomplishment and it allows you to assign people to projects on a very short-term basis. We would like you to consider our Lean Supply Chain Audit. This fast-paced and detailed audit will review all key departments in the supply chain, review processes and systems supporting your operations, and provide back to you, suggestions for your first project and team, including potential cost and savings associated with this project. If you are interested, we will provide you with a detailed quote based on your requirements and input. Please consider Marino Associates, and if you would like to schedule a visit please call our office at 860-558-8564 or email us at [email protected].  Visit our website at www.dmarinoassociates.com Dan Marino Marino Associates, LLC 860-558-8564 www.dmarinoassociates.com

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Procurement leaders, we are starting to see on-line auctions (for commercials) becoming part of RFP processes. Is there a risk this will diminish suppliers ability to add value and differentiate with service? #procurement #categorymanager #costreduction

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All of this points toward the need for a strategic and integrated supply chain focus and especially the role of strategic sourcing. Although I have not seen this pan out (yet?) in terms of demand, hiring, needs, I am certainly curious to see what unfolds and welcome any other insight / perspectives!

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Interesting to see in our data that available candidates have increased in some pockets and not others. For example, available candidates that are end-to-end supply chain leaders (Head of, GM, Director) are now back to pre-covid levels. In comparison, available S&OP/IBP professionals are still well down, similar to this is Log/Warehousing leaders. Over the past 12 months it’s been clear that specialist/SME roles have been in more demand and redundancies to date have targeted the broader supply chain positions. Is there huge demand for S&OP/IBP leaders? Not entirely, however they have not been affected by restructures and redundancies hence the tight market for those candidates. A key reason in the lower demand for supply chain leaders is due to the growth in leadership teams during Covid, now that consumer demand has come off, it’s forcing companies to right size. This has also led many organisations to be able to absorb or promote internally saving them the need to recruit externally. I predict that some of these trends will continue for a while yet which means available supply chain candidates need to be flexible and may have to consider more narrow roles or smaller scopes to get back into a role this side of Xmas. #supplychain #logistics #economy

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📣Procurement Pros! New research finding: 75% of businesses state that the ability to leverage their brand has been a value-added aspect of direct sourcing. New procurement research eBook for from Ardent Partners, sponsored by Guidant Global ‘Direct Sourcing 2024: The Rise of Direct Sourcing’ shows the data behind how crucial employer branding is to a best-in-class direct sourcing programme.

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Collaboration is key!

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Discover your organization's potential with effective supplier relationship management solutions. Drive innovation and mutually beneficial outcomes. Elevate your procurement operations and create lasting partnerships with your suppliers. Read Velocity's Insight for more! #suppliermanagement #procurement

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This supports what we are seeing in the market. People are pretty satisfied in their roles and it is getting harder to have people discuss change for new roles. To attract the best talen, you need to have someone who can discuss the details of the job, the potential of the company and the long term value of the career move in order to get them to engage in the process. Once involved, top performers have high expectations for how the search is handled and how the communication and negotiation is managed throughout.

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Supply Chain folks need to respect the time and expertise of sales professionals that compete for their business against incumbents. Allow me to give an example. You call on an existing customer or a prospective customer. It doesn't matter, but the supply chain folks do their due diligence, qualify you as a future supplier to whatever parts, and you as a sales professional qualify them. You receive the rfq, do your thing, drill down and ask the right questions, provide an apples to apples quote. The supply chain folks say "are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" You go back, double check and say "no, we are good". They say ok and then you ask for the order. They say, "we called our cutrent supplier in and they made sone adjustments and we don't want to take any risk so we are staying status quo but thank you." You say "how about dual sourcing and allow us to demonstrate? Our moq is less than 5% of your eau". They say "no, tyats not the direction we want to go" So I say, " wow, we were 32% less, we did the work. How long ya been with xyz?" They say 10 years. Well have them pay you the $115,000 x 10 years they have been ripoing you off and then i understand staying with the incumbent. They say, "no , we made a decision" This is why we as sales professionals ask qualifying questions. We need quote contracts as sales professionals before repeating this insanity. Something we should all think about before going down such rabbit holes. Supply chains that do this get identified and its very dangerous when an industry of companies won't quote your business. We do all talk and identify bad actors in the arena of the free market. Have a great weekend!

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Purchase Price is a Horrible Procurement Metric! I still encounter far too many procurement professionals who rely on purchase price or purchase price variance as their primary metric for success. It's a narrow and incomplete measure that doesn’t tell the full story. Here’s why: 🔍 Purchase price and purchase price variance ignore critical factors like transportation costs and inventory impacts. Instead, we should focus on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). TCO combines the purchase price with transportation and other incremental costs, providing a clearer view of the actual cost. 🔢 Every business should also develop and publish its unique cost of inventory metric. This isn't just the cost of money. It includes: Opportunity costs of tied-up capital Storage costs Additional transportation or handling needs Obsolescence risks When I shared this with a VP of Procurement, he asked, “Why isn’t it just the cost of money?” Simple: inventory costs go far beyond interest rates. 🎯 The takeaway: If your team is measuring success with simplistic metrics like purchase price or PPV, it’s time to level up. Start tracking TCO and your unique cost of inventory to make smarter, more strategic decisions. What metrics are you using to elevate procurement performance? Let me know in the comments!

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Is your organization hesitant to add more resources to procurement? I hear from a lot of people that struggle with leadership investing in the procurement function. Here are the reasons organizations should build up the procurement department: 1. Procurement inspires better supplier engagement and relationships 2. Procurement brings strategy 3. Procurement can help uncover cost savings 4. Procurement mitigates risk 5. Procurement teaches other internal stakeholders 6. Procurement mitigates risk What else did I miss?

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Are you looking for a career in supply chain or procurement? Use the LinkedIn search bar to: Find these titles for current job openings LinkedIn posts related to these titles People hiring for these roles Individuals already working in these roles that you can connect with Titles to look for: *Supply Chain ➡Supply Chain ➡Supply Chain Management ➡Supply Chain Operations ➡Supply Chain Planning ➡Supply Chain Strategy ➡Supply Chain Optimization ➡Supply Chain Analytics ➡Supply Chain Logistics ➡Supply Chain Forecasting ➡Supply Chain Coordination ➡Supply Chain Visibility ➡Supply Chain Resilience ➡Supply Chain Sustainability *Procurement ➡Procurement Specialist ➡Strategic Sourcing Specialist ➡Supplier Manager ➡Vendor Manager ➡Contract Manager ➡Spend Manager ➡Category Manager ➡Purchasing ➡Buyer ➡Negotiation ➡Cost Optimization Specialist ➡Supplier Diversity ➡Procurement Analytics ➡Procurement Compliance ➡ Procurement Transformation Whether you're just starting or an experienced professional, there are plenty of opportunities in the supply chain field. Need help finding a job in the supply chain industry, DM me the word “CAREER” and I will personally help you with your job search! #SupplyChainCareers #ProcurementCareers #LogisticsCareers #hiringnow #supplychain #procurement

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🛑 𝗨𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 = 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 When key supply chain roles remain unfilled, it is not just an inconvenience - it is a threat to your entire operation. Deadlines slip, production falters, and your bottom line takes the hit. Streamlined hiring processes can lead to immediate cost savings and operational stability. 𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻? Let's chat about solutions! #Recruitment #SupplyChainChallenges #CostEfficiency

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As the CEO/president of a specialty trade contractor, how much time do you spend working “on” the business as opposed to working “in” the business? For many, it’s not enough. At some point, your focus has to transition from being a doer to developing a team of doers.

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