Let’s Work Together
Insights…
Cut costs while improving efficiency.
SEARCH
Profit Levers: Where to Find Value in Uncertain Times
Today’s article is about three profit streams (employees, customers, and suppliers), the role procurement plays in them, and how our current global unpredictability is affecting businesses.
What I’ve Learned in Two Years on my Own
Today’s article is about my journey in starting Passwall Solutions over the last two years. It’s amazing to me it’s been two years already, of course, but many days also felt like a long struggle. Bonus: at the end of this article I talk about where the name Passwall comes from and what it means.
SIG|ORG Fall Summit 2025: Bucket list goals, Agentic AI, and the Iron Triangle
Today’s article is a roundup of topics from the SIG|ORG Fall Summit last week: a keynote on achieving your bucket list by Seb Terry, a discussion of agentic AI implementation at Motional using Zip by Joe Fox and Patrick Eckhert, and a workshop on spotting a company’s focus on the iron triangle with Erin McFarlane of Fairmarkit.
It’s Not Category Management without a Category Strategy
Today’s article is about what a category strategy is (and is not), what goes into a category strategy, and how to maintain a strategy’s relevance as part of a larger supply chain ecosystem. A category management approach isn’t true category management without strategies that drive value.
Know Your Award Scenario
Today’s article is about potential award scenarios, when they are useful, and pitfalls of each option, including winner takes all, cherry picking, by subcategory, and allocated percentages. I also give some overall thoughts on award scenarios and the importance of knowing them ahead of a negotiation or e-auction.
Notes from ProcureCon East 2025: Leading Teams and Tariff Strategies
Today’s article is my notes from ProcureCon US Indirect East – including thoughts from the keynote panel on managing procurement teams through uncertain time, bullet points from a session on concrete tariff mitigation strategies, and my general musings on the conference.
Contract Negotiation Tactics: Templates, Redlines, and Careers
Today’s article talks about the tactical implications of contract management: templates, how negotiating terms works, some best practices, and how contract managers fit into your organization. I also have some notes on approval best practices (how many is too many?).
Contracts: Critical for Risk Mitigation and Building Value
Today’s article talks about why _your_ business needs contracts (beyond POs) and specifically where you can push for value with your suppliers. I also tell a little story about purple streetlights and how that relates to contract clauses. (Have you seen any of those purple streetlights anywhere?)
Enjoy Your Holidays
Today’s article talks about what you need to be doing to plan, execute, and celebrate before the end of 2025. All the credit goes to Mathew Schulz for inspiring today’s post, and his post that inspired it is linked in the article. There are a lot of things you can do today to ensure peaceful holidays (and less chaos!) in December.
We Can’t Do The Things Without the Stuff
Today’s article is inspired by an exclamation in a recent conference call: We can’t do the things without the stuff. Let’s talk about the stuff supply chain needs, what things we can do when we get it, and how we can get what we need so we can succeed. Incidentally, this article also ends up being a pretty good summary of supply chain and how to rock at being a supply chain professional.
Advanced E-auction Tools: Bid Transformation
Today’s article talks about bid transformation: What it is, how it works, applications, and concrete things to think about when using it. We’re deep into e-auction geekiness today, but all of these things also apply to complicated bids where we need to consider our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Today’s article talks about bid transformation: What it is, how it works, applications, and concrete things to think about when using it. We’re deep into e-auction geekiness today, but all of these things also apply to complicated bids where we need to consider our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Vendor-managed Inventory (VMI): Trusted Suppliers, Real Pitfalls, and Best Practices
Today’s article talks about vendor-managed inventory (aka VMI), including common VMI suppliers, VMI pitfalls (especially a little-known one that shows up with the most common VMI supplier with the iconic blue vending machines), and concrete best practices for a good VMI program.
Why Direct and Indirect Spend Aren’t Just Jargon (and Why You Should Care)
Today’s article talks about direct and indirect spend – what is this categorization, why this classification (or a similar one) matters, and the skill sets needed in each to succeed. I also dig a little into one of the Great Procurement Debates: which indirect categories should the business unit manage vs. the procurement team manage? I’ll also tell you which one is my personal favorite and why.
No Software, No Problem: A Quick and Dirty Spend Analysis
Today’s article is a step-by-step guide to running a quick-and-dirty spend analysis using only Excel. Are there better tools out there? Sure. But if you just need a decent view of your spend by supplier, category, and part number, a spreadsheet will get you there. I also cover concrete questions to ask about your spend analysis, whether you use my method or another. A spend analysis is only useful if you then DO something with it!
Don’t Start from Zero: When and How to Use Procurement Wrap Agreements
After a hard-fought battle, you finally have contract terms and conditions with a supplier. Awesome! But now you want to use that same supplier for a different material or different scope of work, and the idea of renegotiating that contract again is daunting. It’s...
Build Value in Supply Chain by Thinking Like an Engineer
Like most supply chain/procurement professionals, I definitely didn’t start here. I was going to be an engineer, climbing the expected chain from Design Engineer to Project Engineer to Engineering Manager and then maybe VP of Engineering. It was going to be organized,...
Lump Sum vs. Unit Price: Procurement Lessons from 30,000 Feet
On a call with a client today, they asked me how a “lump sum” bid is different from a “unit price” bid. This led to a larger discussion about risk vs. cost in a supply chain and this client team said to me, “You should write an article about this topic.” So here we...
Lessons Learned from Eight Small Midwest Manufacturing Supply Chains
A few months ago, I had the immense privilege of working with the team at Iowa State University’s Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) to assess the supply chains at eight small Iowa-based manufacturers. The lessons we learned and their common threads...
E-auctions Are A Chainsaw
When I tell people e-auctions are a negotiation tool in the toolbox, they often go straight to “e-auctions are a hammer.” But a hammer doesn’t have flexibility or grace, it can basically do one thing. I say e-auctions are a chainsaw. If that evokes a slightly visceral...
AI, BI, CI and DI: The Progression of Artificial Intelligence
AI is the biggest buzzword of the day. To Joël Collin-Demers’ point, if you can substitute the word “computers” or “technology” for AI in a sentence, it’s probably not true AI but instead is a clever use of technology. While technology is still valuable and...
Tariffs Will Settle At About 10%: An ISM World 2025 Keynote Roundup
To the chorus of a thousand clinking name badges, we sat down last week to the ISMWorld 2025 keynote speaker: Kevin O’Leary. “Mr. Wonderful.” His insights and thoughts over the next hour or so were fascinating, thought-provoking, and edged into thoughtful criticism of...
How to Be an Intern
It’s intern season! I loved being an intern. There was so much to learn about the company, the job, and why (and whether) my major actually mattered. I had a total of four internships in college because I had two while I was finishing up an advanced degree, so I...
A Bucket, a Dipper, and an Agreement: Making Blanket Orders Work for You
I frequently see companies early in their supply chain maturity journey using blanket purchase orders almost like a “light contract.” At first I found this somewhat odd, but for a company with a small supply chain, it makes sense. Blanket orders don’t require nearly...
My publishing journey . . . so far
Today is the day. Publishing day. My book, Transform Procurement: The Value of E-auctions, comes out today. I implemented my first e-auction program basically without guidance, and I’m hoping my book helps give people a quick roadmap so they don’t have to take two...