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Articles in category: Sourcing
Sasol awards KBR EPCm contract for its Synfuels complex in Secunda
Explore DigitalRefining (11 hours, 12 min ago)
KBR today announced that it has been awarded a contract by Sasol, duly represented by Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd, for the provision of engineering, procurement and construction management services (EPCm) for the gaseous oxygen compressor at the Oxygen East Plant at the Sasol Synfuels Complex in Secunda, South Africa. The EPCm services to be provided by KBR entail all the management services required in order to restore the integrity of the gaseous oxygen compressor. This contract will be executed.......
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Mentions: Japan Canada South Africa
Relationships key to competitive supply chain
Explore just-style.com (Jun 12 2013)
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the need to develop more strategic relationships between retailers and their suppliers to improve flexibility and add value across the supply chain. But according to Mark Green, executive vice president of the global supply chain at apparel giant PVH, the biggest changes in sourcing are yet to come. "We're moving from price to value, from bulk purchase orders (POs) to just-in-time, long lead times to speed and flexibility, product development is now focused on innovation rather than just tech-pack execution, compliance is evolving.........................
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PMI unchanged as manufacturing struggles to gain traction
Explore SmartProcurement.co.za (Jun 5 2013)
The seasonally adjusted Kagiso Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) remained unchanged at 50.4 in May, indicating that the sector is struggling to gain any real momentum. However, although the headline number was flat, the index's two largest-weighted subcomponents (the new sales orders index and the business activity index) lost ground over the period as conditions in the manufacturing sector remain tough, said Abdul Davids, Head of Research at Kagiso Asset Management.
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Why Procurement Professionals Need to Get Open Source Savvy
Explore Open Source Delivers (Jun 3 2013)
Procurement’s primary role is to obtain goods and services in response to business needs. When it comes to commercial software, procurement has long played an active role working with development teams to meet their needs for code. With the abundance of free and open source software (FOSS) available on the Internet, developers have mostly bypassed procurement which raises two important issues. First, if procurement is tasked with finding the best solution at the best price, shouldn’t they always be looking for open source alternatives to all commercial software purchase requests? Second, even though it’s free, shouldn’t ...
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Future Sourcing: The End of the RFI
Explore Spend Matters (May 29 2013)
Spend Matters welcomes a guest post from Alan Buxton, COO of MarketMaker4. I see a lot of RFIs. And I have to admit that it puzzles me that in these modern times buyers have to ask prospective suppliers the same questions again (and again, and again): What are your revenues? What are your manufacturing locations? How many staff do you have? What certifications do you hold? It wasn’t supposed to be like this. E-sourcing was supposed to bring buyers and suppliers together in a seamless, frictionless world. There must be a better way.
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Sourcing essential to Thomson Reuters' two-year improvement plan
Explore supplymanagement.com (May 24 2013)
In an interview published in the latest edition of Supply Business, Nicolas Passaquin, vice president, global sourcing, head of Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa, explained how procurement is contributing to the company’s performance with the full support of its board. “I am leading on the organisational development-side of a programme called ‘2015 Business Excellence’. Under that, we are asking questions such as ‘How do we develop our people? Are we providing the services from the right place? Should we be looking at lower cost locations?’
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Mentions: Africa Thomson Reuters
Alternative Routes to Challenge Procurement Decisions, Part 1
Explore Davis LLP, Canadian law firm (May 23 2013)
The 2011 BC case of Metercor Inc. v. Kamloops shows a different way for a disgruntled bidder to challenge a procurement decision that has gone against them. In this case, the City of Kamloops issued a request for proposals for the installation of water meters.
The unsuccessful proponent (CMI) brought an action for judicial review of the City's decision to enter into negotiations with the successful proponent (Neptune). The RFP set out a two-stage evaluation process. Proposals were first scored for their technical merits and only those proposals that scored at least 75% on this basis (56.25 marks ...
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The next generation of open source software procurement models |
Explore Open Source Beyond Technology (May 23 2013)
One year ago, the new Swedish framework agreement for the procurement of open source became active. Five suppliers were contracted to provide software and services. Central government, the public educational sector, all twenty county councils, and 225 out of the 290 Swedish municipalities are participating. They call off mini competitions for contracts the suppliers then have to battle for. This model differs from the recommendations made in the European 'Guideline on public procurement of Open Source Software', aiming to overcome current barriers and increase the use of open source.
The Swedish framework agreement 'Öppna programvaror 2010' (Open Source Software 2010 ...
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Common mistakes in commodity risk
Explore Procurement Leaders Network (May 17 2013)
Current commodity risk management practice has flaws, something we uncovered having published a comprehensive report on commodity risk management in Europe. Limited understanding of risk: A startling discovery is that only 50% of all companies are quantifying their risk exposure, leaving every second company in the dark about where, in their commodity spend, the risk lies. Far too many companies rely on ambiguous assumptions about volatility, but fail to properly identify how price developments of various categories relate to each other.
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How to Source Complex Professional Services
Explore Supply Chain Management Review (May 14 2013)
Spend on complex professional services like consulting, marketing, and legal has long seemed impervious to strategic sourcing efforts. But the recent global recession and ongoing economic uncertainty has provided procurement teams with an opening to add value in these categories. During this Webcast, Danny Ertel and Jon Hughes of Vantage Partners will discuss the challenges procurement organizations face in influencing complex professional services spend, share advice for gaining access and building credibility with internal stakeholders (who are often very senior executives), and offer proven strategies to deliver value on one of the last frontiers for strategic sourcing and supplier management.
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Mentions: JDA Vantage Partners Chrysler
Transnet Engineering explores new markets
Transnet Engineering (TE), a unit of the state-owned freight and logistics company, is exploring new narrow-gauge markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Australia in a bid to meet its growth targets, according to strategy and marketing GM Thoba Majoka.Transnet previously had an "Africa first" approach. While it has largely focused on wagons and refurbishment of locomotives and passenger coaches, it has recently built capacity in the manufacture of locomotives.
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Mentions: Australia Africa South Africa
Five Leading Packaging Companies Combining To Create The World's Sixth-Largest Global Plastics Packaging Company
Explore PR Newswire (May 2 2013)
Five leading packaging companies in North America and Europe today announced they intend to combine in order to operate as one global leader under the banner of Exopack Holdings Sarl, a new Luxembourg company ("the Combined Company"). The combined business will have 63 plants, 8,650 employees and aggregate revenues of more than US$2.5B, making it the sixth-largest plastics packaging company in the world. Joining Exopack, a U.S.-based producer of flexible paper and plastic packaging, and advanced coatings, will be four leading companies based in Europe – Britton Group, a flexible plastic packaging manufacturer; PACCOR, the second-largest ...
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Mentions: Chicago
Implementing purchasing cards? Keep an eye on...
Explore SmartProcurement.co.za (May 2 2013)
Procurement Cards (P-Cards) are rapidly gaining acceptance in South African business circles as an efficient way of managing spend with company-approved vendors on low-value/high-volume transactions. When implementing a P-Card programme within your company there are a few things that should be noted, advises Kgomotso Ntsimane, Marketing Manager for Nedbank Corporate Issuing, in this month’s SmartProcurement. "P-Cards afford greater visibility of what is being spent and, as a result, greater control and a lesser chance of abuse. A P-Card programme allows the company to see where purchases are made in a convenient, central electronic location. This allows for consolidation ...
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Mentions: South Africa
Beyond Procurement 14: Next-level collaborative buying
Explore Procurement Leaders Network (Apr 30 2013)
Collaborative buying has been typified by one or more companies joining together in some form of cooperative arrangement to increase their buying leverage in the marketplace, mostly with the aim of maximising price leverage. The distinguishing difference between this more traditional form of collaborative buying and "Next Level" is that these relationships are now being created and expanded to capitalise on much more than simple cost reduction, and taking on more complex forms. It’s a logical and powerful approach that builds on procurement’s traditional negotiation capability, offering it even further leverage.
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Mentions: China Switzerland Daimler
Alstom’s R51bn SA rail deal challenged
Explore iol.co.za (Apr 24 2013)
South Africa’s state railway agency faces a courtroom battle over its choice of an Alstom SA-led group as preferred bidder for a 51 billion rand ($5.6 billion) contract after a rival candidate appealed the award. Dudula Rail (Pty) Ltd, a bidding group controlled by Bussnang, Switzerland-based Stadler Rail AG, has asked for a review of the decision by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa to appoint Alstom, Kerry Williams, a lawyer at Johannesburg-based Webber Wentzel, which is representing the rail agency, said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. “Dudula has set the urgent interlocutory application down ...
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Mentions: South Africa Johannesburg
Emerging Market Watch: Procurement Sophistication in Africa (Part 2)
Explore Spend Matters (Apr 22 2013)
The first installment of our series covering procurement sophistication in Africa can be found here. Continuing on, we come to the topic of indirect spend. Although I had the impression that the private sector buyers were direct side, and many were heavily mired in transactional activities, there were a few strong signs of interest in the indirect side. One participant from a Mombasa-based coffee firm (sophisticated enough to run SAP for all their transactions) revealed that their indirect spend is now on the list of priorities. Perhaps we’ll see full-service strategic sourcing firms begin to enter the market to ...
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South Africa Airways gets tough with suppliers
Explore Google FeedBurner (Apr 22 2013)
SAA has experienced a tough period recently: last year the company recorded a loss of R1.25bn, which it attributed to high fuel and operational costs. During the same period some of its board members resigned in the wake of a disagreement with the Department of Public Enterprises over a strategic plan and the release of a R5bn bailout guarantee. The company recently appointed a new CEO, Monwabisi Kalawe, its sixth in 10 years, who will oversee the company’s new strategy, part of which involves a new get-tough with suppliers’ attitude. This cost-focussed strategy is seen as key to ...
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Memo to the CEO: Suppliers Could Be Our Key to Growth
Explore Old St Labs (Apr 20 2013)
You have no doubt heard the phrase that the customer is the key to a business’s success. However, there’s one key factor that could cause a breakdown in a business’s success regardless of how it treats its customers and that is suppliers. Think of suppliers as essential investors in your business venture. Not only can these suppliers create quality products and store them at affordable rates, which in turn can expand your business; but, they can also be the key factor in a business’s failure if they fail to meet expected deadlines or produce bad quality ...
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Digital Disruption and What It Means For Sourcing
Explore Spend Matters (Apr 19 2013)
In a recent Forrester survey, 85% of executives polled opined that “the need to drive innovation and growth” would have a moderate or high impact on IT services spending. However, today’s technology buyers face a fragmented, fast-moving landscape of niche technology and services providers in newer spaces (social, mobile, cloud, sensor-based and other) as well as new offerings from their largest global partners. To drive and enable digital disruption, sourcing executives must aggressively change their rules for partnering and contracting with technology suppliers as well [...]
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Mentions: Apple Google Forrester Research
Diageo CPO advises purchasers to take risks in recession
Explore supplymanagement.com (Apr 17 2013)
Thibaut Eissautier, the chief procurement officer at Diageo, who joined the drinks manufacturer in August 2012, told buyers a downturn often makes CEOs more receptive to new options and approaches. “It is an opportunity to try new approaches and develop a competitive advantage. I’m convinced one of the roles of buyers is to test the riskiest solution and to try and syndicate that within the company,” he said. Eissautier also said although recessions present both positives and negatives for purchasers, they do advance the cause of the profession by providing a more visible profile for activity and stakeholders who ...
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Mentions: London Goldman Sachs
Unilever on path to raw material sustainability
Explore Procurement Leaders Network (Apr 17 2013)
With 36% agricultural materials now sourced sustainably, the consumer goods giant has exceeded its interim milestone of 30%, a target that was set in 2010 when the company launched its ’Sustainable Living Plan’. This achievement is a sign that the company on the right path to achieve its aim of doubling the size of its business whilst reducing its environmental footprint and improving its positive social impact. Commenting on the news, Unilever CPO Marc Engel said: "Climate change, water scarcity, unsustainable farming practices, and rising populations all threaten agricultural supplies and food security.
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Mentions: Unilever
Heineken upgrades commodity management technology
Explore Procurement Leaders Network (Apr 15 2013)
The brewer undertook the integration of a new solution following the launch of a strategic initiative to reduce supply cost volatility caused by price fluctuations in commodities such as barley, wheat, maize, diesel fuel, natural gas, bunker fuel, and aluminium. The solution, developed by Triple Point Technology, Commodity XL Strategic Planning and Procurement (SPP), was selected by the brewer, the company has stated, because of its ability to provide real-time scenario analysis to reduce commodity price risk, decrease overall commodity expenditure and because it can be integrated with SAP financial, logistics, inventory, and invoicing solutions.
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Mentions: SAP
Digital Advertising Demands Savvy Buyers
Explore Spend Matters (Apr 9 2013)
With expected growth of over 15% in 2013, an integrated approach to marketing procurement is essential to maximizing the efficiency of this budget. Digital advertising is seeing a seismic shift as advertisers begin to reduce their reliance on traditional buying behaviors and integrate automated purchasing technologies. Known as programmatic buying, the niche technologies and suppliers that participate in this space have developed the ability to use data, algorithms, and real-time systems to help advertisers deliver specific ads to target consumers.
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Mentions: USA
Procurement Pros Focus on Education and Experience
Explore ThomasNet News (Apr 8 2013)
A recent study by Source One Management Services, titled “The Roles of Education & Experience in Procurement,” part of their Procurement & Sourcing Survey Whitepaper Series, finds that while a four-year college degree isn’t necessary for procurement personnel until the higher management levels, experience certainly is – fully 76 percent of procurement staffers have more than 11 years of experience. New blood is entering the procurement field, “armed with degrees and higher education,” the study found. It predicts that if current trends continue “it will likely further the shift from old school methods rooted in tradition to new school sourcing methods rooted ...
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