10 Ways Cloud Computing Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing
The best manufacturers I’ve visited this year all share a common attribute: they are obsessed with making themselves as easy as possible to work with from a supply chain, distribution and services standpoint. Many are evaluating cloud-based manufacturing applications including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and several have adopted cloud-based applications across their companies. With so much interest, [...]
New Research: Manufacturing and Direct Materials Sourcing: A Planning Guide for the Next Decade
MetalMiner and Spend Matters are excited to announce the launch of a combined research study, Manufacturing and Direct Materials Sourcing: A Planning Guide for the Next Decade. Authored by Jason Busch and Lisa Reisman, this Spend Matt…
Tim Cook’s US Manufacturing Reality Distortion Field
Tim Cook visiting Foxconn People say Steve Jobs had a “reality distortion field“. His powerful charisma and messages were said to have the ability to make people believe in what he wanted them to regardless of the facts. Now Tim Cook is trying to deploy his own reality distortion field of sorts, and it’s working [...]
With great power comes great responsibility – or, Cloud companies need to get on-board
With great power comes great responsibility This great quote from the movie Spider-Man, is just as true for technology, as it is for superheroes. Technology has made possible tremendous changes in our quality of life in the last couple of decades. Everything from surgery to transportation, education to construction, space exploration and most other fields [...]
Tips to Support Supply Chain Risk Management Platform Success + Building the Business Case
Over the past couple of weeks, you’ve most likely noticed a number of posts from my presentation with Sherry Gordon at ISM, focusing on the risk track. In it, we shared what we believe is some of the most important and condensed a…
New Research: Going Collaborative/Quantitative — Limits Reverse Auctions, Strategic Sourcing
This morning, we’re excited to announce the publication of a new Spend Matters and MetalMiner Perspective, A Personal Lesson: Reaching the Limits of Reverse Auctions and Strategic Sourcing — When Collaborative and Quantitative Ap…
US Federal Government Seems a Stronger Employer (and Spender) Than All of Manufacturing
For anyone following government spending or manufacturing trends, there’s a fascinating piece in the Wall Street Journal from last week. Authored by Stephen Moore, the piece suggests a radical inversion in jobs growth and creation…
What Happens When China, Other Asian Countries Realize Their Export Markets are Tapped Out
If you talk off-the-record with retailers and CPG companies, many of the largest and most respected in global sourcing will note, not for attribution, that they’re quietly investing in alternative export-driven supply markets to C…
The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Supplier Management, Cost Reduction and Beyond (Part 1)
I’ve gotten to know a number of procurement executives and former executives at some of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies over the past few years. And to say that the industry was in the midst of a transformation with pr…
Apple and Supplier Audits — How Far Does the Apple Fall From the Green/CSR Tree (Part 2)?
In the first post in this series, I analyzed trends in Apple’s supplier auditing programs and shared a bit of input on how both physical and virtual audits may allow the tech giant to extend its supplier management reach even furt…
