Security of supply is one of the most critical priorities of any supply chain; cost and compliance are the other top ones. Given how critical security of supply is, I am often surprised by how inadequate many due diligence programs are at getting to the heart of risk or ensuring that adequate agility exists to […]
Supply Chain Security & Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Read More »
In his recent EBN Weekly Editor’s Blog, Brian Fuller posed the question, “Have we lost control?” which has me wondering if we ever had control. Clearly, everything seems to have shifted, but then again, change, not stability, is the norm. The West has only dominated the world in the last few hundred years, and America
We Need Performance, Not Speculation Read More »
It stands to reason that, within a set of components, some would have better and others worse than a sweet-spot price. “Sweet-spot” here means an appropriate, fair-market price level for the purchaser. If you normalized the sweet-spot prices so that different components could be compared, you would expect a distribution showing variance around that value.
Everyone Has Some Bad Electronic Component Pricing Read More »
In part 1, I talked about the influence design engineers can exert on procurement and the supply chain. This is often a negative influence that comes without proper education or information. What do I want top designers to know about supply chain design? Leverage Leverage is a critical factor in negotiations. Without it, you take
What Engineers Must Know About the Supply Chain, Part 2 Read More »
Accenture and others have reported that company stock prices can dropanywhere from 7.5 to 12 percent following severe supply chain disruptions. PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates this drop at 9 percent and says that, for two-thirds of those companies, stock performance will still lag competitors a year after the disruption. If this is the case, why do we
What Engineers Must Know About the Supply Chain, Part 1 Read More »
Most supply chain professionals would benefit from some training in accounting. I am surprised by the number of times I encounter people holding positions of responsibility who just don’t understand the numbers well enough. I must admit that accountants don’t make it particularly easy. Take cashflow calculations as an example. There are two ways of
Supply Chain Accounting 101 Read More »
I find one reality TV show interesting because it actually represents reality. …At least, it’s the reality that I see through the supply chain and procurement lens of Freebenchmarking.com and Component Cost Estimator as it mirrors typical purchasing negotiations. The show is Pawn Stars, about a family-owned pawn shop in Las Vegas. In this show,
Pawn Stars: Lessons for the Supply Chain Read More »
I find myself confused between what I read in the press and my personal experience. One example is the exodus of manufacturing from China to North America. While this widely espoused turn of events may play well to nationalism and hope for local job creation, I don’t see it. My clients are being well served
China Isn’t Being Displaced Read More »
Maybe I’m fixated on cost and competitiveness, but over Christmas, two things happened that drove me to ponder these themes. The first is that I was given a Boxee Box as a gift; the second is a technology, entertainment, and design (TED) lecture that I heard via Boxee by an incredible 19-year-old woman named Eva
Why I Am Fixated on Cost & Competitiveness Read More »
There are times when I wonder why companies have purchasing departments. Wouldn’t it be a great cost reduction to get rid of the overhead for this group and just let designers pick suppliers and set component pricing? A demand planner could interface with contract manufacturers that would keep costs competitive and take care of all
Turning Ordinary to Great Read More »
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