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Companies leaning heavily on global sourcing? Theyre feeling the heat most, as sudden trade policy curveballs throw procurement plans into chaos. manufacturer I know saw their import costs jump overnight, forcing a rethink of a decade-old sourcing strategy. What Is Agile Procurement?
They noted the fact that companies whose leaders had supply chain experience took a more proactive approach to addressing potential supply-chain challenges, and in leveraging the supply-chain function to generate new business opportunities. They are no longer just vendors of goods and services.
The manufacturing sector is facing unprecedented volatility in global trade, with tariffs becoming the latest in a series of uncertainty drivers that are impacting virtually all industries. Manufacturing plants are deeply entrenched; tied to infrastructure, suppliers, skilled labor, and regulatory requirements.
In a survey we conducted in October 2020, 91% of our Indago supply chain research community members, who are all supply chain executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies, either Agreed or Strongly Agreed that the time had come to transform the traditional transportation procurement process.
For global manufacturers, managing direct and indirect material spend can get very complicated very quickly. Multiple legacy systems prevent procurement from standardizing processes and tracking what they’re spending with each supplier.
This is the largest area of investment for the company outside of ERP. SAP is embedding its generative Joule across the SAP Ariba source-to-pay solution portfolio to make it easier for their customers to manage routine inquiries, such as status updates, summarization, and frequently asked questions. It is a brilliant tool.”
When you talk to companies that have implemented enterprise or supply chain applications, executives will usually admit that they have under-invested in training and preparing users to use the new technology. The most common form of trading partner collaboration is purchase order collaboration. People issues are always challenging.
Home Introducing Freightos Enterprise: End-to-End Procurement, Benchmarking, and Management Freightos Enterprise unifies market intelligence, tender management, and shipment operations into one solution, enhancing logistics efficiency for large import-export businesses.
Fictiv , a global supply chain technology company, announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by MISUMIGroup Inc., a leading global supplier of mechanical components for the manufacturing industry headquartered in Japan. Once closed, Fictiv will join MISUMI.
Speaker: Adam Robinson, Director of Marketing, Cerasis
We’ll address how automation in the supply chain will provide employees with the following: More Strategic Procurement. More Efficient Manufacturing as well as ability to fill the skills gap & make more strategic employees. Improved Picking & Warehouse Efficiency thanks to Picking Autonomous Mobile Robots & Voice Commands.
A data gateway is essentially a connective tissue across your supply chain, providing unified access to supply chain data from various sources, including enterprise systems, data feeds, data warehouses, data lakes, data marts, and business entities.
The modern supply chain is a complex network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers, all interconnected and reliant on a shared ecosystem of trust and accountability. Companies that prioritize low costs at the expense of ethics risk damaging their reputation, losing consumer trust, and facing legal consequences.
Across the globe, companies continue to pledge to reduce their emissions, capture their emissions, and help to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. For many companies, this process begins with an overhaul of their manufacturing processes, looking at ways to promote sustainable manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping supply chain operations by enabling predictive planning, allowing companies to anticipate disruptions before they occur and adjust operations accordingly. Companies must react after the fact, often incurring higher costs and reduced service levels.
Medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers have faced increasing logistical challenges over the past two years. This report, produced by Worldwide Business Research, explores the progress companies have made toward supply chain digitization and logistics maturity.
NEW YORK & OTTAWA, ON March 24, 2025 Infor, the industry cloud complete company, and Kinaxis Inc. TSX: KXS) an end-to-end supply chain orchestration, today announced a new partnership that will deliver improved alignment of supply chain plans with business objectives and strategies for midmarket discrete manufacturingcompanies.
Strategic sourcing and innovative solutions are often viewed as two distinct procurement tools, but they should not be seen in isolation. Think of them as apples and gearseach essential and effective on its own, yet when combined; they create a formidable mechanism for achieving procurement excellence.
Here I define value as improving market capitalization/employee for a public company. For example, if I improve the cost structure in transportation, procurement, manufacturing and sales independently, what decision support framework decides the right trade-offs? You are right. This work was expensive. How Do You Drive Value?
Procurement and supply chain management are often used interchangeably—but in practice, the lines between them can blur in ways that create real friction. Misaligned priorities, siloed systems, and unclear ownership can directly impact key performance indicators like cost savings percentage and procurement cycle time.
Speaker: Fernando Penteado, CPSM - Supply Chain and Logistics Executive, Global Markets Expert, and International Speaker
Now, as a variety of disruptive events cause supply chain challenges, companies are contemplating bold moves to keep business moving, including moving sourcing and manufacturing closer to home markets and maintaining a larger reserve stock to help manage the fluctuations in supply and demand.
The resulting strategic question for companies is: How do we build resilient supply chains when even the rule-makers are unstable? Automotive: Can JIT manufacturing survive legal disruptions to tariff policy? Companies relocating to Mexico may face rapid reversal in cost advantage if emergency tariffs are struck down.
A data gateway is essentially a connective tissue across your supply chain, providing unified access to supply chain data from various sources, including enterprise systems, data feeds, data warehouses, data lakes, data marts, and business entities.
In fact, in todays ultra-competitive environment its global ecosystems that compete not companies alone. Nevertheless, the reality remains that strong partnerships and alliances are crucial for smart manufacturing, supply chain resilience, and overall competitiveness. Batteries are sourced from South Korea and China.
From raw material sourcing to logistics and regulatory compliance, stakeholders across the value chain will need to prepare for structural adjustments. Sourcing and Ingredient Availability A central impact of this policy is the need to replace synthetic colorants with natural alternatives. Production scheduling may also be affected.
Reducing cost was the primary objective, and most operational decisionsfrom sourcing to fulfillmentreflected that mindset. Resilience is the ability to respond to disruption while maintaining core operations, and more companies are shifting their strategies accordingly. For years, supply chains were engineered to be lean.
The company aims to change this with the expansion of its data fabric portfolio. When you combine the volume, complexity, and speed with which decisions need to be made and executed, the current way companies manage this is unsustainable. A supply chain data fabric can help companies augment their supply chain processes.
Home Introducing Freightos Enterprise: End-to-End Procurement, Benchmarking, and Management Freightos Enterprise unifies market intelligence, tender management, and shipment operations into one solution, enhancing logistics efficiency for large import-export businesses.
Companies today making a fundamental mistake: they are attempting to automate current processes with AI versus challenging and redefining work. In May 2025, one in seven home-purchase agreements fell through resulting in the cancellation of 56,000 purchase contracts. Most companies forecast a single stream with a focus on error.
Digital Twin Screen Shot and Architecture The most comprehensive form of planning that companies engage in is integrated business planning. Executives came to understand that IBP should not constrain a companys ability to react to what was happening in the market. IBP balances what can be produced against projected demand.
On the positive side, companies such as a small manufacturer of advanced plastic components used across various sectors, such as medical, industrial, automotive and consumer products has experienced increased interest from clients eager to purchase American-made goods. Where do industrial companies focus to prepare for tariffs?
Companies that fail to modernize face supply shortages, revenue loss, and regulatory risks. Just-in-time (JIT) inventory models, lean supplier networks, and offshore manufacturing reduced expenses but left companies exposed to disruptions. Companies that fail to integrate these technologies risk inefficiencies and higher costs.
The 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 20% tariffs on Chinese goods are expected to increase production costs, disrupt logistics networks, and force companies to rethink supply chains. auto parts are sourced from Mexico, making the tariff impact immediate and severe. Today’s escalation of U.S. More than 50% of U.S.
Running a manufacturing business isn’t easy. That’s where a manufacturing ERP comes in. Manufacturing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software integrates all your core business processes into one powerful platform. It’s a lot to handle. Let’s get started.
Transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing collectively contribute significantly to carbon emissions, making these areas critical for meaningful change. Companies are increasingly adopting electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles to transition away from fossil fuels. Ethical sourcing is a fundamental aspect of social sustainability.
Jack Fiedler, the vice president for digital transformation of the global supply chain at Lenovo Lenovo is ranked tenth by one leading analyst firm among a list of global companies with exceptional supply chains. I’ve not seen a company that does a better job of agile planning across an end-to-end, multi-tier supply chain.
Supply chains, which facilitate the movement of products from manufacturers to consumers, have historically encountered issues such as inefficiency, fraud, and a lack of transparency. Companies find it difficult to fully trust the data from suppliers, complicating efforts to ensure product authenticity, safety, and ethical sourcing.
This includes the evolution of schema-on-read architectures and the use of advanced sensing and network automation as companies work through endless cycles of legacy technology like ERP and APS. The issue is that most companies are using new forms of technology to make bad decisions faster. The reason? Clarity on Value.
During my current supply chain planning market research, I have received briefings from several SCP companies. At a division of one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, 85% autonomy on manufacturing plans and 95% acceptance of proposed purchase orders has been achieved. You manufacture stuff.
If you’re evaluating procurement technology or exploring ways to drive more value from existing systems, chances are you’re looking beyond tactical fixes – you want a smarter, scalable strategy. Misaligned priorities across finance, legal, and procurement create friction that delays decision-making and reduces impact.
Scaling manufacturing operations is crucial for business growth but presents unique challenges. Balancing increased demand with consistent quality and controlled costs is difficult but essential for manufacturers looking to expand. Successfully scaling manufacturing requires more than just adding resources.
Companies should evaluate it alongside cost, lead time, on-time delivery, and capacity utilization. A proactive approach to carbon management is essential for companies seeking to reduce their environmental impact while maintaining supply chain efficiency.
Surviving the ride: How leading industries are turning tariff challenges into opportunities fbaker Thu, 05/29/2025 - 08:01 Navigating today’s unpredictable trade landscape can feel a bit like a white-knuckle ride, with companies constantly bracing for the next twist. Read more about how automotive leaders are adapting to tariff challenges.
(If you would like to participate in a current research study, we would love your help and participation in the contract manufacturing study. We are trying to assess the value of a network in managing contract manufacturing.) One of the alignment gaps that is growing and is unfortunate is the gap between procurement and manufacturing.
What food and beverage companies need to know about tariffs: Lessons from Canada sharkins Fri, 05/16/2025 - 09:53 Tariffs have been a constant threat since the beginning of 2025, but one sector has felt the impact more immediately than most: consumer packaged goods. Enter a Canadian supermarket today, and you will witness the transformation.
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