Category: Free Content

Surprised by price increases? It looks at raw material market data from multiple sources, visualizes & analyzes historical pricing scenarios, & simulates planned purchases & what-if scenarios against forward price curves.  At the WMU ISM supply chain management program we teach our students to track commodity forward price curves. Here’s a quick video (see below) of Net Alpha’s cloud based materialx Decision Support service that is being made available to...

Explanation on Single Sourcing versus 70/30 SplitI had a student email me with this work situation. How would you handle this situation?...Our current supplier is a small subsidiary of a parent company that is considered very high risk by our credit & finance group. They do not want us to do business w/ this supplier because based on their financials the parent company could easily go bankrupt. The problem is this...

Procurement 101: Explanation on Commodities (Are computer chips still commodities? I think it depends on how you buy them). Companies are outsourcing commodities to increase value. Value is lowering costs & improving performance (e.g., quality, service, & flexibility). A commodity is defined as being something for which several qualified suppliers exist. Typically, buying organizations will use several rounds of the competitive bidding process to pick a low cost supplier. Buying organizations will send...

A 401(k) for a New College Grad? Yes! Please watch this if you want career mobility & financial independence in your 40s & beyond. In order to achieve this, you will need to invest heavily in your 20s & 30s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvhWtDPhcG4&t=298s If you put $20,000 a year into your 401K, it is tax deferred. Do you understand what that means? For example, if you did not put it into your 401K and wanted...

Is Supply Chain Management a Core Competency for your employer (ask that during an interview)? https://lnkd.in/euh2rFdU and https://lnkd.in/gtacAh_e. If you work in SCM, don't you want to work for a company that has a core competency in SCM? Reads…How should orgs use competitive bidding?https://lnkd.in/gS9vCRQ6Assume a supplier estimates the following costs on an RFQhttps://lnkd.in/gxFBz3_UROI & Your Core Competency (i.e., SCM?)https://lnkd.in/euh2rFdUTo stay competitive, companies are forced to outsource commodities & focus on core competencyhttps://lnkd.in/g-DHtt8XThe primary...

Surprised by raw material price increases? At the WMU ISM supply chain management program we teach our students to track commodity forward price curves. Here’s a quick video of Net Alpha’s cloud based materialx Decision Support service that is being made available to our students in class as they prepare to become future SCM managers. I have asked a lot of SCM managers how they “prepare” to negotiate price increase...

Surprised by raw material price increases? At the WMU ISM supply chain management program we teach our students to track commodity forward price curves. Here's a quick video of Net Alpha's cloud based materialx Decision Support service that is being made available to our students in class as they prepare to become future SCM managers. I have asked a lot of SCM managers how they “prepare” to negotiate price increase...

Yes, WMU SCM students can be Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified...A study by Noble Institute of Quality Certification suggests that w/i 3-7 yrs of cert, one could see an increase in salary 30% over a peer that does not have a cert. This is a standardized test, the same test that the WMU ISM Center uses when conducting LSS training for industry clients.  https://lnkd.in/e3WeU6C The test is not a required...

It was my pleasure to work with Ecuador’s supply chain leaders as we are in it together (more so than ever)…Mr. Santiago Najera,Operational planning manager at Pronaca || General secretary at Asolog - Quinto, Ecuador https://lnkd.in/dRxM58Dy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCnsH5JPtss&t=14s Being able to perform properly within the supply chain requires us to develop multiple skills. The main skills we require are: Problem solving; soft skills; and know how to present and analyze data (data...

Getting hit with a price increase? SCM Managers & CFOs & our students love this cloud platform! It looks at raw material market data from multiple sources, visualizes & analyzes historical pricing scenarios, & simulates planned purchases & what-if scenarios against forward price curves. Our grads will be ready.https://lnkd.in/ggPFSumH Very common theme with my Supply Chain grads. Spot on Dr. Handfield. In the Fall, we will also be looking at...