by Janice Marquardt | Dec 30, 2025 | Supply Chain Career
The most common question, especially at conferences and networking events, is “What do you do?” In casual settings, my answer is “I solve supply chain problems.” At networking and professional events it’s often, “I bring negotiation back to procurement” or “I elevate...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 15, 2025 | Supply Chain Career
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,...
by Janice Marquardt | May 6, 2025 | Creative Solutions, Definitions, Processes
A large part of many corporate jobs is presenting data. Typically presented in chart form, data is intended to help others (especially management) make decisions, plan for the future, and understand the current state. This is especially true in a supply chain team,...
by Janice Marquardt | May 7, 2024 | Definitions, Processes
This morning as I checked my inbox, I had a survey waiting for me from World Commerce and Contracting. The survey sparked me because it asked a set of questions about the purposes of contracts, and I found my answers highly varied across the questions. I will note...
by Janice Marquardt | Mar 12, 2024 | Definitions, Processes, Supply Chain Career
One of my clients had a communication problem. It wasn’t the usual “not enough” problem that so often comes up, it was an executive summary problem. The supply chain leader was doing beautiful, in-depth bid analyses with long spreadsheets and each supplier’s column in...
