Practical Insights (Blog)

Nathanael Powrie, EVP Data Analytics, discusses how harnessing new technological advancements powered by developments in IoT, combined with advanced analytics, drives companies to leverage smart data for smart procurement.

With a fresh batch of US/Chinese tariffs now on line and set to ramp up in January, Maine Pointe’s Chief Marketing Officer, Simon Knowles and EVP Strategic Procurement, Rex Clothier, discuss why now is the time to stress test your supply chain

On 24 September, the latest batch of US tariffs, starting at 10% and increasing to 25% at the end of the year, was imposed on $200Bn worth of Chinese goods. These latest tariffs are in addition to penalties implemented earlier this year on $50Bn worth of Chinese goods. Taken together, it means roughly half of the products that China sells to the United States each year will be hit by tariffs.

Making sales and operations planning (S&OP) work

Many organizations struggle to forecast client demand and align their operations to respond accordingly. Maine Pointe’s procurement, operations and logistics practice leaders outline five critical success factors that will ensure effective demand-driven sales and operations planning (S&OP).

In light of strong growth predictions for the global commodity market in 2018, Rex Clothier, EVP Strategic Procurement at Maine Pointe, considers the steps CEOs need to take now to protect margins and enhance EBITDA growth.

James Gurulé discusses how organizations are addressing their burning platform with a cross-functional approach.

Let’s begin with a pop quiz...how many leading businesses can you think of that are as dominant today as they were 20 years ago? Of course, there are some, but these are challenging times for even the biggest and best-managed organizations. Rapid economic and technological changes mean an approach that worked pretty well for you yesterday might not be working quite so well today and could be catastrophic by tomorrow. 

There are some procurement ‘facts’ that we hear over and over again in our meetings with company executives. Do any of the following sound familiar?

1. “We’re a big company, that means we get the best prices.”
2. “We did a sourcing study just last year and got 1% savings. There’s nothing more there to be had.”
3.  “What we buy is very unique, there are no other credible suppliers.”

The very fact that everybody’s saying the same thing means it must be true, right? Wrong. The truth is that none of these is accurate, not one. In our experience, there are almost always additional savings to be made; you just need to know how to look deep into your value chain to unlock them.

Disintermediation or ‘cutting out the middleman’ is an important issue in modern supply chain management and could even be the key to the future success of your business. Intermediaries may make life easier, but they also limit your ability to secure the best deal with the best suppliers at the best price. However, while moving away from agents and brokers can lead to lower costs, it can also add to the complexity of your procurement function.

Even the most successful companies can find themselves stuck in a rut when it comes to their organizational culture. You may be communicating well with your stakeholders but, if your internal communication isn’t up to par, performance will undoubtedly suffer.

CEOs with experience in doing mergers and acquisitions are all too aware that the real challenge often begins after the deal closes and they turn their attention to the work that’s needed to drive the expected value from their acquisitions. Success is governed, less by what you buy, but by what you do with it after you’ve bought it and how well you do it. 

The fortunes of an organization can rise and fall on the relationships it has with its suppliers. Companies who fail to actively manage their supply chain place their business at risk of becoming uncompetitive in their market or paying inflated prices to incumbent suppliers for lower quality goods. In this situation, disintermediation or 'cutting out the middleman' is an attractive concept for many companies who want to drive competitiveness, improve product time-to-market and get the best possible deal via global sourcing.