by Janice Marquardt | Sep 10, 2026 | Org Chart, Supply Chain Career
In 2021, supply chain leaders suddenly got seats at executive tables. CEOs became supply chain experts overnight due to material shortages. In some companies, the supply chain leader kept their newly-acquired position close to leadership, but in others we faded back...
by Janice Marquardt | Apr 7, 2026 | Org Chart, Processes
Most procurement teams don’t have a category strategy problem, they have a category taxonomy problem. If your categories are unclear, inconsistent, or overly broad, everything built on top of them starts to break down. And yet, category taxonomy is something that...
by Janice Marquardt | Jan 6, 2026 | Creative Solutions, Org Chart
If you’re like many people, you came back from an extended holiday vacation this week and realized the Holiday Elves failed to magically clean your email inbox while you were gone. While some manage to achieve the coveted Inbox Zero over the holiday, most of us are...
by Janice Marquardt | Nov 18, 2025 | Definitions, Org Chart, Processes
I once had a supervisor who was obsessed with what he called “the 4-box model” of procurement. His version graphed supply chain complexity/risk on the y-axis and supply chain cost on the x-axis, classifying suppliers into one of the four resulting quadrants. Low cost...
by Janice Marquardt | Oct 7, 2025 | Definitions, Org Chart, Processes
A perennial favorite topic in procurement is category management. It’s one of the first steps in improving an organization’s supply chain maturity and is a huge step in going from a purchasing team of PO-cutters and expediters to building real, strategic, long-term...
by Janice Marquardt | Aug 26, 2025 | Contracts, e-Auctions, Org Chart, Processes, Supply Chain Career
We Can’t Do The Things Without the Stuff “We can’t do the things without the stuff!” she exclaimed during our daily check-in call. She was waiting for the technical team to send final specifications so she could finish building the e-auction. I’m not sure why it...
