APD Placement conducted a survey of nearly 200 purchasing professionals in 2016 to find out what they valued in their current position, and what their priorities would be in a new job.  The results were published in the white paper … [Read more...]

The recent US election has brought with it the possibility of significant changes to corporate taxation, health care and trade policies with some of our largest trading partners.  In this month’s Purchasing Insights we will talk about Trade. … [Read more...]

A 2013 IBM study found that companies with high performing purchasing organizations achieve 22% higher margins.  This figure is especially significant for manufacturer’s whose material as a percentage of sales most often falls between 50 and 70%. But what sets the high performing purchasing organizations apart and enables the margin improvement?  … [Read more...]

There is a common mistaken belief that Lemmings hurl themselves off of cliffs in an act of mass suicide to control their population.  Actually, the Lemmings are participating in a mass migration.  The fortunate land in the water and complete their migration; the unfortunate land on the rocks below. Similar to Lemmings, manufacturers have participated in mass global migrations as business opportunities were identified in Brazil (1980’s and 1990’s), China and to a lesser degree India (2000’s … [Read more...]

The domestic automotive industry has been on a tear since bottoming out during the great recession.  Volumes have exceeded the previous peak, and there are plenty of indicators that a growing economy will continue to drive vehicle purchases.  But there are plenty of reasons why growth will stall, ranging from weaknesses in global demand to declines in consumer confidence to a potential interest rate increase. The mixed message for the US economy is leading forecasters to vary their … [Read more...]

Our experience is that far too often purchasing leaders see collaboration with the supply base and savings achievement as mutually exclusive goals; you can achieve one or the other, but not both.  Perhaps that is why 58% of the CEO’s we surveyed questioned the value their purchasing organizations drop to the bottom line and 52% believe there are significant savings yet to be realized. When we interviewed CEO’s, they often talked about the lack of strategy and alignment/collaboration within their … [Read more...]

Approximately 70% of a manufacturing companies’ revenue is spent with third party suppliers.  The importance of the strategic management of that spend, across the entire purchasing lifecycle, cannot be overstated in terms of its impact on an organizations financial success. But despite that imperative, do we, as purchasing leaders and professionals, have a seat at the big table? The CPO answer is often a resounding “yes”.  In fact, Deloitte’s 2016 CPO Survey, published just a couple of … [Read more...]