Looks like what's old is new again. IndustryWeek reports on the latest supply management tool referred to as "sustainable supplier structure". Perhaps the birth of a new acronym? What we have here is supply base reduction, the process of reducing the supply base in order to focus on core suppliers and increase leverage with them.

I am more of an advocate of supplier rationalization, or supplier optimization. Performing some level of commodity analysis to determine the right amount of suppliers. Supplier reduction for the sake of meeting a "performance number" is folly.

How Stuff Works is a great site to get a behind the scenes view electronics, scinece, and other products and services.

Join me on a tour of how RFIDs work. Simple, well written, and with good graphics. You can send it along to your network to educate them or read it and be that much smarter than your friends!

Courtesy of Diversity Business, here is a pretty complete online dictionary of diversity related terms. This might be something that you forward on to your Human Resources organization.

Here is a Purchasing Magazine poll question that is near and dear to my heart. The online poll in the September 15, 2005 edition asked the following question:

How much of a priority is profession or continuing education to you?

• 48% High priority
• 33% Mid level priority
• 13% Low-level priority
• 6% Not a priority at all

Now, I would like to see executive management respond to this poll. I think often they support the concept of training but do not support the efforts of regular educational efforts.

Proceeding and other related materials form the 2005 ISM Annual Conference in San Antonio is available for free on the ISM web site. There are also other conference years represented.

You do not need to be a member to access the information. Good stuff.

Here is a link to IndustryWeek's 2005 top 1000 manufacturing companies based on revenue. I've left it in alpha format so you can quickly browse your company and suppliers. You can sort by any which way you want and play with the list and data. Enjoy.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You’ll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including a poopy nickname, the last food of your live, and a new CityScape. Enjoy!

DVGuru's Randall Bennett gives us a look at the Wacom Intuos3 tablet in his hands on review, Ajit Anthony rounds up a few helpful tutorials for your viewing pleasure, and Mike Burgoyne takes a look at a new spin on the DIY camera stabilizer.

TUAW's C.K. Sample, III shares his first impressions with his new 5th generation iPod, and, while Jay Savage was on the scene, the TUAW team gathered for the second week in a row of chatcasting a slew of new Apple announcements. Plus, Laurie A. Duncan muses if the media is biased towards Apple or if Dvorak is off his meds again.

HD Beat's Richard Lawler finds the latest high-def video games, Matt Burns is looking forward to CableCARD 2.0, and Kevin C. Tofel wants a 1080p DVD upconverter for under $250.

The Outsource Report's Vibhav Nuwal wants to know if outsourcing is bubbling, finds legal outsourcing is the next big thing, and talks about how cruise ship based outsourcing works.

Luxist's Jordan Running finds the ultimate traffic solution, your own personal helicopter and uncovers the new plans for The Mirage in Vegas. Plus, Deidre Woollard explores an estate with an interior greenhouse in Northern California.

Gadling's Erik Olsen interviews diver and explorer Fabien Cousteau about his shark submarine and Kelly Amabile pops the news about the Cork Jazz Festival. Plus, the Gadling team's CityScapes feature takes a full day's look at the Big Apple.

Relationship management consultant Vantage Partners created a white paper on the importance of supplier relationships. While they have “bottom line savings” and “top line value” as research segments, the “operating efficiencies” caught my attention.

• Improved value-chain forecasting and response
• Improved quality and speed of decision making
• Reduced time and effort in scope management
• Enhanced service quality, responsiveness, flexibility
• Reduction in errors, conflicts
• Streamlined management of order, fulfillment, rebates, etc.
• Reduced time spent on selection and contract negotiation

   

You’ll have to register for the white paper, but it looks like a good exchange of value.

I received a complimentary copy of “Supply Chain Strategy”, a joint publication from Harvard Business School Publishing and The MIT Center for Transportations & Logistics. Subscriptions are expensive (to me) but it seems at first blush to be a worthwhile document.

One article did catch my eye. Written by Yossi Sheffi and Paul Michelman, “The Next Killer App? It’s Your Supply Chain” discussed how supply chain management has “become the new basis of competition”.

Proctor and Gamble’s merger with Gillette was driven by supply chain efficiencies and being better able to serve the needs of Wal-Mart. The IBM and Dell competition was won by Dell due to legendary supply chain management efficiencies.

The article asked who would win the supply chain competitions in our own industries. Well, who?

Last week I posted information on a letter that I had sent to the president of a large consumer products company concerning the failure of a new dorm sized refrigerator that I had bought for my son. I expected the usual scrubbed response from some “marketing specialist”. Instead I received a telephone call that made me very happy.

No, it was not a call from the president asking me to manage their entire supply chain management process. But it was a call from their continuous improvement manager, the person with responsibility for quality assurance, quality control, and related functions. A Six Sigma Black Belt, he was nervous in calling a customer. But, it was a great telephone call because we connected on a business level and not on a “customer” level.

It seems that the company had been getting some complaints on the performance of their licensees and my letter hit the tipping point. They had a hands-off philosophy with these suppliers and truly just traded on their brand. However, complaints have mounted to where they will be working with their licensees on continuous improvement activities, communication, and other manufacturing and customer service issues. The quality person was happy because he had been lobbying about this for a while.

So, I’m out a refrigerator but they said they send me some products to offset the expense. Not what I was looking for but I’ll take them. And, I appreciate a “line” manager calling me. Tells me a lot about the company.

I like finding articles geared to sales people that can help supply chain management professionals. Call it defensive negotiations.

This article in Industrial Distribution warns sales people that if they spend too much time on sales presentations that they will not get the sale.I always hate the long sales presentation. Cut to the chase and tell me what I need to know. I've ended many a long winded session.

Read the article and show it to your sales folks the next time the laptop comes out.

I actually filled up my Taurus earlier this week with $2.69 gas, and I was happy to do so. Actually I should have waited as it went to $2.56 a couple of days later. And it still continues to drop.

But diesel fuel, the stuff that runs our trucks, is still at, or above $3.00 a gallon. Thise higher costs are beginning to be passed on throughout the supply chain and that is fueling (no pun intended) inflation fears. So while the gasoline companies dropped prices when they saw that the $3.00 price point begin to change driver behavior, the truckers are stuck.

And in the long run, so are we.

Electronics super distributor Avnet turned 50 years old over the summer. One of the uber distribs, they have grown by modifying their business over the years to not only serve the market but to lead it.

I started buying from the Woburn, MA branch of then Hamilton Avnet back in the late seventies. Paul K. was a great inside guy and he did a solid job in writing up my 200 piece orders for 1N914 diodes and 74LS122 components. He never made fun of me when I read part numbers wrong to him or made some other rookie buyer error. He had great customer service skills and took great care of me. I placed a lot of orders over many years.

Paul left and the company changed. Maybe he left because of it, but my small (but frequent) orders were less important, delivered less on time, and had increasing prices. They were interested in the large orders (and rang a bell in the office when those large orders were booked) and really not mine. Turns out my small but frequent orders were not quite as cost effective as larger orders. We parted company.

And when I went back it was because I HAD to and not because I WANTED to. I may have been a young buyer, but I remembered how I was treated when I became an old(er) buyer.

The Ford electronic catalog, or "FordEcat", an Enigma, Inc. product, may soon be coming to a U.S. Ford dealer near you. This technology has already been widely deployed in Eurpoe and the Middle East.

My local Ford dealer (we are a 4 Ford family) depends on "Bob in Parts" to determine the parts needed for repair jobs. Kind of quaint when they need to go into the office to ring up a sale. An electronic parts catalog may help, but at this point they seem to know almost everything about Ford parts.

That is, as long as Bob keeps working behind the counter.

I needed to prepare a brief lesson on Six Sigma and there are certainly no shortage of Six Sigma sites out there. However, for simplicity, I find myself being drawn to the GE site for Six Sigma. They have a nice .pdf guide called What is Six Sigma: The Roadmap to Customer Impact. Simple, to the point, and well done. In this case, less is more.

If you are looking for more, check out sixsigmacompanies.com. Blog friend Michael Marx does a nice job here.