CombineNet and Transplace Extend Partnership in Delivering Advanced Transportation Procurement Solution to North America. According to the press release: Transplace leverages the CombineNet ASAP® advanced e-sourcing technology as part of its expert solutions, helping customers develop and optimize their carrier strategy for procurement events involving truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), and intermodal needs. MORE

Myers, 56, will lead the functional groups that make up the company’s integrated supply chain, including Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering and Customer Service and Logistics. “This expertise will complement our current End-to-End Cost Management initiatives, including Project SAVOR in Procurement and Lean Six Sigma in Manufacturing. Myers earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee. MORE

While thinking about these types of supply chain disruptions may be new to most people, it is something that executives, product teams, and manufacturing organizations have worried about for decades. In our global economy, it has become extremely difficult for manufacturing companies to gain the necessary visibility into their supply chain partners’ ecosystems. Be prepared by answering these questions: Will your contract manufacturers be ready? MORE

Apple in talks with miners to secure cobalt supplies: sources (Reuters). I’ll just repeat what I wrote three years ago in Procuring Logistics Services is Not the Same as Buying Paper Clips : The lesson is simple, yet many shippers still don’t get it: there is no incentive for 3PLs to be innovative and creative if your objective is to beat them down on cost, shift all the risk to them, and then put the business out to bid again in 1-3 years. MORE

Some states are limiting corporate access to renewable energy, making it difficult for manufacturers to meet energy goals. Over the last decade, manufacturers such as General Motors, Dow Chemical, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Owens Corning, P&G, and Mars have significantly increased their purchasing of renewable energy as a means to power their facilities across the U.S. Wherever possible, we hope to source that clean energy from within the states and communities where we operate.”. MORE

Christopher Tang, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Anderson School and Editor-in-Chief of the INFORMS journal Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (M&SOM) As supply chains become more complex, companies find their supply chains more vulnerable to both foreseeable uncertainty risks and unforeseeable disruption risks. Traditionally mandated for public procurement, it offers many of the same benefits to corporations. MORE

Whether you''re a manufacturing company in China, a sourcing agent in London or a world''s leading company in Silicon Valley, we''re all in a global supply chain networks. Paul Dittmann , Executive Director of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee Improving operational efficiency in the global supply chain is a complex undertaking, and requires a documented, multi-year strategy instead of knee jerk reactions, and programs of the month. MORE

In addition to cutting the need for outsourced manufacturing, this move could give the company a leg up on the competition by making it possible to get products in the hands of consumers faster. Strategies include sourcing more items directly from manufacturers to improve margins, SKU rationalization and space reduction, “show more carry less” and assisted-store ordering. manufacturing facility in 2014. MORE

From raw materials sourcing to warehouse operations , logistics technology , order fulfillment and beyond, there are dozens of points throughout the supply chain, all of which contribute to overall supply chain efficiency. I am buying a sheep and goat farm alongside a larger space for a garment factory so that I can control where the cashmere and wool is coming from, how it is processed and how it is manufactured before it is sent to my customers. MORE

At Flex, Tom had a scope that included the entire end to end supply chain: procurement, transportation, warehouse management, as well as customer order fulfillment, customer service, procure to pay, and trade relationships. A post-global world is actually good for supply chains, as it drives proximity of resources closer to customers and suppliers, as organizations seek to manufacture locally. MORE