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Pat Lupica

Pat Lupica's Blog (29)

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Organizational Development/Management and the relationship to SCM

Is your OD/OM group prepared to support SCM and globalization initiatives?

Technology and Globalization are changing the way business is conducted. As a result, internal groups have to evolve to support these changes.

For years I’ve been focused on Supply Chain Management (SCM) and alignment of the extended Supply Chain, which requires communication, collaboration, and tight coordination. This focus has led me to the internal disconnect pro

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Added by Pat Lupica on December 12, 2009 at 4:00pm — 2 Comments

Customer Service: an Art, a Science, or Both?

Is Customer Service an Art, a Science, or both? What makes it more one than the other?

The first dilemma regarding customer service is how to consistently deliver something that is often not understood? The second quandary is that once expectations seem clear, they change – so the question becomes how to track changing expectations, and then quickly translate that into a delivery system? One better sti

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Added by Pat Lupica on November 20, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Purchasing and Accounting: a Scorecard Issue?

Is a disconnect between purchasing and accounting impacting your supply chain scorecard?

One of the easiest ways to damage a buyer/seller relationship and not even know it’s happening is to toss an invoice over the wall to accounting and assume terms will be met. Payment terms are oftentimes stretched to preserve short-term cash reserves; sometimes breach of contract occurs beca

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Added by Pat Lupica on September 29, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

To “Make” or “Buy”?

To “Make” or “Buy”?

This subject is haunting many firms these days. Outsourcing problems include: Lack of flexibility, competing for (far away) resources, protecting proprietary information, challenges with different measurement systems, association with questionable business practices, lack of visibility into external environment factors at point of production, cost of freight, potential loss of compete

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Added by Pat Lupica on September 24, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

To speak to a live person, press 1 now

If technology is driving globalization, and globalization is driving the need for effective Supply Chain Management, which stresses relationship management as a key factor, we may have a paradox.

In the name of progress, flexibility, and CYA, technology has provided a means for connecting 24/7 anywhere in the world and has largely eliminated the need to interact face-to-face – even if you are situated across the hall from the person with whom you are communicating.

In an intervi

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Added by Pat Lupica on September 10, 2009 at 4:30pm — No Comments

5 Steps for Selecting the “Right” Technology

Technology is responsible for connecting and integrating business activities like no other time in history, but is enough consideration being given to analysis and design before technology solutions are adopted with consideration to costs, quality, and time?

Whether a technology solution is brand new or replacing existing technology, the following steps should be taken to ensure that the “right” technology is being evaluated.

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Added by Pat Lupica on August 27, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Inventory: Key Metrics and Considerations

“Meager abundance” might be the perfect oxymoron to describe the inventory situation with many, if not most, companies these days; “Don’t have too much, but don’t run out” is the challenge for those managing inventories. Below are a few key measures and important considerations to help with this balancing act.

3 Key Metrics:

  1. Supply on hand [On hand quantity / unit usage] analysis is a great SKU (stock keeping unit) level exception management tool for q
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Added by Pat Lupica on August 10, 2009 at 6:57pm — 1 Comment

SCM and Social & Environmental Responsibility

Globalization has led to more opportunities, but also more risk. What makes this a topic of concern is that many firms are really not equipped with trained professionals and tools to deal with the various components of risk. The buyer of yesterday is managing thousands of SKUs and placing orders for the best quality at the lowest price; companies lack clear policies related to globalization issues, on-going training, and resources for monitoring its supply chain. That being said, companies are i… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on July 26, 2009 at 1:30am — No Comments

Technology: Facts, Myths, and Considerations

I would be hard pressed to find even one person who does not use technology in some way. Technology is widely used for professional purposes; day-to-day emails, scheduling events, procurement auctions, network sites, "job" sites, and web training just to name a few. Personal use is up with sites like MySpace, homepages, dating services, etc., and the amazing thing is that more and more on-line communication and technology is free or at a minimal cost; Thomas Freidman, author of the Lexus and the… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on July 21, 2009 at 1:00am — 1 Comment

The Value of Relationship Management

"Relationship management can be key to controlling soft costs, which are directly and indirectly related to profitability." This story starts with a commercial construction project, which I had the privilege to follow over a two year period. Before the start of the project, the superintendent made a trip to local city offices that would in some way impact the project; he took the time to introduce himself and ask about local processes in terms of documents, protocol, the preferred way o… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on July 13, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

"Soft” Costs – removing, tracking, and the relationship to the bottom line

“Taking the cost out of procurement”, “Difficulty in tracking “soft” savings”, “Tying costs reduction to the bottom line” - these have always been challenges for companies, but these challenges seem to be more in the spotlight today due to the poor economy and shrinking resources. Let’s first define hard and soft costs. “Hard” costs, in short, are typically direct costs. Depending on the industry, quantifiable known overhead may be included as well. “Soft” costs can be defined differently (ag… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on July 7, 2009 at 2:30am — 2 Comments

Inventory – “A Balcony View”

No matter what functional department you are in, inventory can be an issue. Sales needs inventory to sell, production needs inventory to build, and finance is watching from a cash flow and profitability perspective, which drives inventory and supply chain management to look for effective ways to minimize risk. We will proceed with the idea that inventory issues are symptoms of problems – not the root cause. I will offer a look at this topic from a “Balcony” view (as Dr. Helen Eckmann calls it),… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on June 22, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Measurements: Strategic or Tactical?

The answer is “both”. There are measures for specific “tactical” purposes – generally referred to as KPIs, and higher level measurements; what makes a measurement strategic or tactical goes to the objective or goal that is being tracked with a clear cause-and-effect relationship – think of them as the parts that make up the whole OR two sides of an equation. If this cause-and-effect relationship can’t be identified, the value of the specific measurement should be questioned. Kaplin and Norton i… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on June 15, 2009 at 2:45pm — No Comments

Procurement and Marketing: a structure dilemma?

Question: "Procurement and marketing - an unlikely match? Not at P&G On the face of it, a good working relationship between procurement and marketing may seem unlikely. The idea of creatives buddying up with cost cutters (I'm using stereotypes here) just doesn't seem to wash." http://blog.procurementleaders.com/procurement-blog/2009/5/21/procurement-and-marketing-an-unlikely-match-not-at-pg.html?utm_source=sc_movement%2B%20&utm_medium=li_discuss%2B&utm_campaign=blog%2B I'd li… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on May 25, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Managing supply while keeping up with sales – a lead or lag effort?

After reviewing month end reports and metrics, it became obvious that a product – the widget, which has for years been stable with regular scheduled shipments, had dropped off a cliff in terms of demand. There was all the sudden inventory buildup, no recent shipments, and no orders on the books. The forecast was reviewed – no changes there. Notes reviewed from the last face-to-face review meeting with sales (a couple months prior) – nothing there. Emails checked, no changes. Hmmmm…. A call bet… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on May 18, 2009 at 4:30am — 2 Comments

Accurate forecasting vs inventory carrying cost

Question: “SCM as I understand need very accurate forecasting to avoid the inventory carrying cost. Would you like to share any parameters which could be useful in monitoring the inventory?” My response to this questions is to fix the problem that is causing the high inventory and related carrying costs by asking “why”. Why is inventory so high? The forecast is wrong. Why is the forecast wrong? Bad input. Why was input bad? The right people were not involved in the decision making… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on May 17, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

“How much value is the CPIM certification for operations professionals?”

It is not the CPIM certification as much as the knowledge that you gain while preparing for the CPIM exam that is critical for an operations person. That being said, the certificate, at least in the US, is the premier certification for operations professionals and can carry more weight than a university degree in some cases. The knowledge gained through the CPIM preparation classes/material will help you from a strategic and tactical perspective. You will learn techniques to help reduce costs, t… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on May 16, 2009 at 12:31pm — No Comments

CSCP or CPSM: The importance of certification

We are all entering a new era we call globalization, and need to be prepared beyond CPM, CPIM, the academic degree that was obtained years ago, and yes, even our years of experience on the job. Continuing education is more important than ever because the world of commerce is changing at warp speed; if you don’t keep up, you will not be able to compete! And guess what, you are not just competing with those in your city, your state, or country; you are now competing with people around the globe.… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on April 4, 2009 at 3:00am — 1 Comment

Measuring Supplier Performance

Performance evaluation will vary depending on the type of supplier relationship – transactional, collaborative, or alliance, which of course goes to the costs that goes into maintaining a supplier and how the relationship is cultivated. Just as important is what it is you what to measure and why; measures should help you and/or the supplier improve performance. Two common approaches are Categorical and Weighted. Categorical – list of performance factors by categories (Supply Mgmt… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on March 17, 2009 at 1:31pm — No Comments

Collaboration: purpose and intent - food for thought

"So what is the purpose of collaboration? Should people only collaborate with people they know and trust, who think the same or have the same values? OR, is the idea of collaboration to get different views? To think beyond ourselves and use the collaborative event as an opportunity to expand, improve, and grow – even when ideas run counter to our own?" As part of a collaborative effort, or maybe an experiment, I recently contributed to a book. I did not think much beyond my contribution… Continue

Added by Pat Lupica on March 16, 2009 at 1:00am — No Comments

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