Sourcing and procurement play an important role in companies of all sizes, and can have a significant impact (positive or negative) on a company’s competitiveness and its success. Any C-Suite executive responsible for sourcing and procurement should be able to answer these three key strategic questions: These seemingly simply questions -with often complex answers – […]
C-Suite Executives Should Be Asking These 3 Questions Read More »
How much should one pay for a chip or a component? Lytica, a Canadian supply-chain pricing analytics company, has the answer. Founded by former Nortel chief procurement officer Ken Bradley, who, like many others in the IT industry, was once bemused by component pricing, Lytica is transforming itself into a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, helping OEM
SaaS for component pricing: Q&A with Lytica chairman Ken Bradley Read More »
 Is risk a synonym for uncertainty? The thesaurus in Microsoft Word suggests that it is and a Google search confirms it however, when thinking about managing supply chains, there are a different set of actions for risk than those taken to address uncertainty. The primary supply chain actions to reduce risk involve alternate sourcing, inventory
Risk and Uncertainty Read More »
In my last blog, Supply Chain Crash Test, I asked if your supply chain could withstand a tsunami like event that might wipe out many component suppliers who serve supply chains of the OEM or EMS companies that would cause it. I asked you to postulate what would happen if Apple had experienced the Samsung
 Supplier Customer Diversity Sensitivity and Resilience Read More »
The problem of identifying suppliers with a high risk of failure is becoming more serious as talks of interest rate hikes and free trade agreement dissolution become more common. While this blog considers suppliers in an electronics supply chain, the risks and mitigations described apply more broadly. Most companies have strategies and indicators for dealing
Predicting Supplier Failure Read More »
Analyze financial health to prevent catastrophic risk in your supply chain With increasing occurrences of disturbing events, such as companies going bankrupt, how to predict and prevent the catastrophic risk becomes one of the most important considerations of executives and managers. Such events could adversely impact production and order fulfillment, resulting in financial loss as
Catastrophic Risk Prevention 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 »
