Category Archives: Miscellaneous

the doctor’s Top 10 Cities for Supply Management Centres of Excellence (Where Should Your Supply Management Organization Be Located? Part V)

Yesterday, I gave you the top 10 mega-regions in which to locate your Supply Management Centre of Excellence, and indicated the major cities in each region that should top your list. For those of you keeping count, I listed 46 cities. If you’re indecisive, that’s a lot of cities to choose from! So, today, I am going to give you the doctor‘s top 10 cites for your Supply Management Centre of Excellence and his rationale!

Rank City Mega-Region Rationale
10 Dallas The Dallas Triangle The telco corridor. Oil and gas USA. Just a few hours north of Silicon Hills. Finance. More Fortune 500 headquarters than any other city in the USA. The centre-point of the largest metropolitan area in the south and the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the USA. East-West and North-South focal point of the interstate highway system — get anything, anywhere, anytime. One of the largest, and busiest, airports in the world (so you won’t miss Chicago). Sports, sports, and more sports. The world famous Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. People named JR. A great education system. Birthplace of Amy Acker, who, before taking the Whedonverse by storm, made sure that those of us who were adults with young children didn’t get the short end of the Wishbone.
9 Frankfurt The Frankfurt-Gärtringen Corridor The stock exchange, renewable energy, great transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, and German engineering! And let’s not forget Frankfurther Rindswurst. Woot! Woot!
8 Rio de Janeiro The Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo corridor It’s not the CRIB, it’s the BRIC, and it starts with Brazil. It’s the emerging South American powerhouse, which is the most visited city in the southern hemisphere (and home to Carnival), on the coast, and surrounded by a great transportation infrastructure. It is the headquarters of many state-owned companies, the centre of the oil and gas industry in Brazil, and the second largest industrial producer in the country. Foxconn, who produces all of Apple’s iPads and iPhones is down the corridor in Sao Paulo, so you know that Brazil, and Rio de Janeiro, is here to stay as a major player in global trade.
7 Paris Greater Paris La ville des lumières. La ville de l’amour. La vie en rose. Audrey Tautou. La mode, l’architecture, et la philosophie. Quoi d’autre avez-vous besoin?
6 Seoul Greater Seoul A megacity with a population over 10 Million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world, that is home to major multinational conglomerates and one of the world’s top ten financial and commercial centres. A very technologically advanced infrastructure and an openness to the Western Way of doing business. Architecture, fashion, and culture extrude from every crevice. And it’s home to the Wonder Girls of K-Pop. How can you go wrong?
5 Amsterdam Amsterdam – Brussels – Antwerp Central European location, an almost universal understanding of English, great international relations, strong fashion and tourism industries, architecture, and culture (even excluding its world famous Red Light District). Plus, lots and lots of conventions — no travelling required!
4 London London – Leeds – Chester More visits from The Doctor than any other place on earth (and the most likely city to be the first to participate in intergalactic trade). On a more current note, the LSE, the fashion scene and haberdashery shops, and the entertainment industry draw all shapes and sorts of creative talent. Plus, it gave us The Clash and Generation X. What more can you ask for?
3 Tokyo Greater Tokyo Domo arigato gozaimashita! You have to interact with a lot of people everyday. And not all of these people are polite. Why not go somewhere politeness reigns? Plus, it’s the home of Sanrio (hello kitty) and the J-Pop explosion. How can you go wrong? (Oh, and the financial clout, hi-tech infrastructure, and the wide range of cultural pursuits from ikebana and origami to shopping and whiskey, doesn’t hurt either.) And if that’s not enough, anime, manga, and gaming central! (If you think Gibson is inspired, just wait until you read Masamune Shirow!)
2 New York Boston – New York – Washington Corridor If you’re gonna be in Supply Management for the long haul, you gotta have Heart. And since New York is The Heart of Rock & Roll, it’s as good a place as any to start. Plus, the easy access to capital doesn’t hurt!
1 Los Angeles The California Coast Despite our desire to move to a paperless office, we still have to deal with a mountain of paper every day. Purchase Orders, Goods Receipts, Invoices, Import Forms, Export Forms, RFXs, etc. etc. So why not base your Supply Management organization in the home city of Wil Wheaton, the guy who made collating paper cool!

Where Are My Marbles?

This is the third post in the continuing saga of the doctor and the quest to get his marbles back from the Twitter Bird. Part I and Part II are still archived on the site.

I’ve looked way up high
on the top of the CN Tower
And I’ve looked way down low
in the depths of Sarma
I’ve looked into
a Raven’s maw
And in a hipster’s ‘fro
(what does that do for karma?)

I’ve looked near
just outside the door
I’ve looked far
in the Serengeti
I’ve even looked here
under the mounds of paper on my desk
And I still don’t know where the heck they are
(am I starting to sound petty?)

I’ve looked on land
where it’s nice and dry
I’ve looked in the sea
where it’s oh so very wet
I’ve even asked the band
(who only work 10-2-midnite)
Where they could be
(but have received no answer yet)

I’ve run to the hills
(on the advice of the Iron Maiden)
And rushed to the valley
(of the ancient kings)
I’ve checked all the mills
(and some still make paper, you know)
And even asked O’malley
(down in the alley, improving his swing)

No luck have I had
even though I have tried
No trace have I found
outside or inside
Of anything smooth
shiny, or clear
Or anything round
like my marbles, so dear.

Damn you TwitterBird!
Give Me Back My Marbles!

Epilogue

Quoth the TwitterBird, Never!

If You Do Not Get Sustainable Results, Blame Yourself!

Let’s Talk!

It’s deja vu all over again!

Robert Rudzki is not the only blogger and consultant to recently hear that a potential client had, just a few years ago, hired a large consulting firm to do a high-profile “strategic sourcing program” with nothing sustainable to show for it, as he indicated in his recent SCMR blog post on Deja vu all over again. I’ve heard the same sentiments echoed to me by a number of consultants at a number of small and mid-size niche and specialty services and software providers in the e-Sourcing & Supply Management space in recent months.

It would appear that a common trend last time money flowed into laggard Supply Management organizations before the recent downturn was to simply hire a Big-X consulting firm to fast track the organization to strategic sourcing success. While this is a great way to fast-track a project, and a contract, that is expected to result in significant savings, the only thing that is fast-tracked from a finance perspective is payment to the consulting firm that runs all the way to the bank! As leading Supply Management professionals know, a contract does not guarantee savings. The only way to achieve savings is to execute against the contract and make sure savings are realized. Just because you have a new contract that allows you to source widgets at $8 a pop, instead of $10 a pop, this doesn’t mean you are going to save $200,000 on your annual purchase of 100,000 widgets. For the savings to materialize, all of the following has to happen:

  • the buyer has to place the order with the contract supplier
  • within the contracted lead-time and the supplier
  • has to ship on time
  • using the approved carrier and shipping arrangement
  • and pay all required third party and government export fees
  • and file all appropriate paperwork at the same time your organization, or a 3PL acting on your behalf,
  • files all of the appropriate import and compliance paperwork
  • and pays any associated duties to make sure that
  • the product arrives at the warehouse when its supposed to
  • where it is received, inventoried, and appropriately stored which results in
  • an invoice being accepted and verified against the contracted rates and
  • paid at the appropriate time only when all goods are received and verified as acceptable.

Simply put, if

  • the order is placed with the wrong supplier
  • or placed late and the order has to be expedited
  • or shipped late and a different shipping method has to be used
  • or export documents are not filed on time
  • or fees are not paid and fines are issued
  • or import documents are not filed on time
  • or taxes are not paid and fines are issued
  • or the product is not properly inventoried or stored and can’t be found and unnecessary replacements
    need to be ordered
  • or the invoice is not verified and the old rate is still being charged
  • or the invoice is paid late and a penalty is applied

then those (significant) savings negotiated on your behalf go out the window. And you’re not going to get them back! First of all, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Secondly, because you weren’t actively involved in the project and didn’t insure that the knowledge that you required to achieve a sustainable transformation was transferred, you’re not going to be able to keep costs down when you renegotiate the contract in this economy where supply is tightening and costs are rising. So you’ll pay even more, even if the rate should stay almost flat.

In order to get results, you have to work with the consultants to understand the strategic sourcing process, the strategies applicable to your organization, the goals of each individual project, the savings opportunities in each project, the key contract terms, the changes that need to be made to capture the savings and adhere to each
contract term, the key metrics, the measurements that need to be made regularly, and the warning signs that something is happening / has happened that could jeopardize the savings the organization expects. Failure to do any of this is a sure-fire way of making sure that nothing changes and that your organization continues to leave money on the table.

In short, if your organization continues to be one of those organizations that leaves up to 40% of the contract value on the table because you did not do all of the above, don’t blame the service provider unless you did all of the above. As Charles, Bill, and Bob said in their recent books on The Procurement Game Plan, Managing Indirect Spend, and Next Level Supply Management Excellence, success is your responsibility and you have to actively manage your service providers and make sure that the knowledge required for a sustainable transformation is transferred to you.

A Digital Transformation Requires At Least Five Critical Factors, Not Three!

A recent article over on Chief Executive on Digital Transformation that asked “[If] CEOs [are] ready for the Challenge?” caught my attention. And it kept it when it said less than 20% of the companies surveyed are truly reshaping their businesses for digital and many are only partially fulfilling their potential because, as a technophile, I know this to be all too true.

But I screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO with @rantinggirl when I read that you need three factors in place — top-down vision, clear governance and investment — to deliver a true transformation. While these factors are a necessary condition, they are not a sufficient condition, and if all you have is vision, a governance model, and the willingness to invest current resources into the problem, then you should pack it in now as your days as an organization are numbered.

You see, a successful digital transformation requires at least the following Five Critical Factors:

  1. Top-Down Vision
    that emanates from, is communicated by, and is embraced by the top
  2. Clear Governance
    that consistently communicates and enforces the vision, ensures the allocated resources are directed towards the effort, and that keeps the vision on track when fires threaten to cloud the business with smoke or people want to return to the old ways
  3. Investment
    in resources and dollars, as money will need to be spent requiring the right infrastructure
  4. Technologically Adept Talent
    since going digital requires being digital
  5. Transition Commitment
    since there will always be those that fight the transformation and, more importantly, since some of these resources may not be able, or willing, to adopt to the new way of doing business and have to be let go

Anything less is like skydiving without a properly packed parachute. You had a clear vision of jumping out of the plane, you invested in the plane, and you convinced the pilot to take off, but you forgot about the nature of the landing and that if the chute doesn’t properly deploy, you’ll be hitting the ground at 195 km/h (or 122 mph) — without much chance of survival. Mr. Boole may have survived, but chances are you’ll end up like the skydivers on CSI.

As the article points out, the transformation journey is full of roadblocks, including organizational skill gaps, culture, and legacy IT (that is more antisocial than your average arrogant PhD, and I should know).

Reasons The US Post Office Isn’t That Important

The US Post Office is important, but the recent cut-backs aren’t as bad as some people are making it out to be. One article on the subject that recently caught my attention was “10 Reasons the Post Office is Important to Us” over on “Change of Address” because it didn’t really give the full picture.

For example:

  1. There are other ways to get medication to housebound patients.
    Private Shipping Services and Local Delivery Companies do the job just fine. Not every country has six-day mail service. Canada has five-day mail service and we survive.
  2. The economy will rebalance.
    The $1 Trillion dollar mailing and shipping industry won’t go away, the work will just go to the providers who can do it the most cost effectively.
  3. It’s not ending the postal service.
    There is just not as much need for as many offices or for six-day mail service now that so many documents can be delivered electronically and other private services provide other options.
  4. Shipping companies can still use the postal service.
    And they can partner with other companies that offer complementary services.
  5. Physical Goods Can Still be Delivered
    Just not on Saturdays.
  6. Publishers can still get their print publications out.
    They just have to adapt to no Saturday service and different printing deadlines to make different drop-off deadlines. Not a big deal.
  7. Rural Americans will still get their mail
    The Post Office isn’t taking away this service, and since most private delivery companies don’t operate in rural areas, this market will exist for years to come because of
  8. The Universal Service Option
    which still applies.
  9. Most communities with a sense of community have a community centre.
    That is independent of, and does not rely on, the post office.
  10. Major carriers can provide security as well.
    UPS and Fedex and similar companies are setup to track shipments along every mile and every individual who has access to those shipments because they import and export and this is a requirement to be in that business (10+2, etc.) and they use the same system across their business.

There’s nothing wrong with right-sizing an institution to stem massive bleeding, and while this will, unfortunately, result in some job layoffs, as the article notes, the need for document and parcel delivery still exists and it’s a given that the private sector will expand to meet this need and create new jobs to balance most of those jobs that are lost. It’s sad that the Post Office took so long to take action, and now has to take a massive action, but the Post Office is not going away and the mounting losses are more important than losing a day of service. Let’s just hope that they rebalance their operations the right way and don’t have to do this again.