Supply Excellence

Digesting the June ISM Non-Manufacturing Index

July 6th, 2010 · No Comments · AribaLIVE, Services Procurement, sourcing, supply management, supply market dynamics

The ISM NMI (Non-Manufacturing Index) came in at 53.8, which is down from 55.4 in May. The Business Activity Index was 58.1, down from 61.1 in May, and New Orders was 54.4, down from 57.1 in May. The employment index came in at 49.7, slightly below the growth threshold of 50. Here are some bullet points about [...]

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Sourcing Commercial Print in today’s market

April 7th, 2010 · No Comments · Top 5 Supply Strategies, best practices, sourcing, supply management, supply market dynamics

Another category identified for cost savings in last week’s Top 5 Categories to Source Now webinar was commercial print (full webinar replay here). With marketing typically driving decisions on commercial print, it’s a category many companies have had trouble bringing under management of the procurement team. However if approached properly, commercial print provides great opportunities [...]

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December ISM Index: What does it mean?

January 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Services Procurement, supply management, supply market dynamics, supply risk

This week, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released their manufacturing and services numbers for December. The non-manufacturing (services) number came in at 50.1%, which was right around expectations. While it did move slightly into the “growth” region (above 50), it certainly did not blow away the street and indicate that all is on the [...]

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Now Hiring: Temp Hiring Surge Reveals “Wait and See” Approach

December 22nd, 2009 · No Comments · Services Procurement, outsourcing, supply management, supply market dynamics

The Sunday New York Times reported on a surge in temp labor hiring. Indeed, the November temporary labor hiring numbers were relatively strong. To quote the Times:
“Last month 52,000 temps were added, greater than the number of new workers in any other category. Not even health care and government, stalwarts through the long recession, did [...]

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Opportunities and Strategies for Contingent Labor

November 20th, 2009 · No Comments · Services Procurement, best practices

Earlier this week, Dan Ashton hosted a webinar (replay here) with speakers from Travelers Insurance and Kelly Services to discuss the current opportunity for driving value in contingent labor procurement. Here he shares some of the key take-aways.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its [...]

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