We’re facing a dangerous supply shortage across the globe. What’s running low, you ask? Two things; mustaches and charitable donations.
Ok, so maybe mustaches are an arguable “commodity” that many would like to see disappear completely. But few would dispute that charitable donations, particularly to specific school projects through DonorsChoose.org, are always too scarce.
Luckily a few [...]

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As many of you know, the Category Managers who contribute to Supply Excellence also create a quarterly report called SupplyWatch. The Q1 issue is up and includes detailed category breakdowns for…

Metals
Plastics, Rubber & Raw Materials
Transportation
Electronics, Electrical & IT Hardware
Paper & Packaging
Services & Capital Goods, Construction & Engineering

In addition, there is a feature article on Cutting [...]

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Buyers of chemicals always need to know what’s happening in their markets, and more importantly what will happen, to make informed purchasing decisions. The problem is that forecasting chemicals markets is more of an art than a science, and well-structured (but subsequently erroneous) predictions have made some of the best analysts look like novices [...]

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In the context of last week’s surprisingly positive job numbers (so surprising in fact that President Obama had to do a last minute rewrite to his speech Friday), two news stories have shared additional good news for US manufacturing. They’re largely anecdotal evidence, but perhaps they show a return of manufacturing jobs to the US [...]

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UPDATE: CNBC picked up Pat’s advice today.
With stock markets surging (thus diverting investment money from t-bills) and the US dollar expected to continue its downward slide in the face of “loose” monetary policy, currency fluctuations are reemerging as a spend management priority. Although the ebb and flow of foreign exchange markets are far beyond the [...]

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