For the last few months as the future of the US auto industry has been debated, the idea that Detroit would be in fine shape had they simply been producing greener cars seems to be taken by most of the media as gospel truth. But with US and foreign automakers’ sales lagging far behind ‘07 [...]

[Read more →]

Jason Busch recently penned a post on the use of Web 2.0 tools in procurement and lamented the absence of a killer app that has become an indispensable site professionals use on a daily basis (although he did tease us with a possible solution in early 2009). Point taken. After all, even the “bright spots” [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, Mike Petro outlined the opportunities presented by direct materials. On a similar note today, regular Supply Excellence contributor Rachel Rutkoski explains buyer’s market conditions for indirect spend and identifies several hot categories, including:

Labor - Rising unemployment means “buyers should evaluate any category where labor is a main cost component.” There is a glut [...]

[Read more →]

Metals Category Manager Mike Petro makes the case for why “right now is the time to source direct materials”…

If you’d like a closer look at the facts and figures Mike cited - as well as information on other categories that provide immediate strategic opportunities - you can find them in the mid-quarter SupplyWatch update here. [...]

[Read more →]

Earlier today, Chrysler and Ford both announced they’ll be temporarily shutting down some production facilities. Chrysler is idling all 30 of their plants for at least one month, while Ford is extending their usual holiday shutdown for an extra week.
As Congress debates how best - or if - to address the plea of the automakers [...]

[Read more →]