by Janice Marquardt | Sep 2, 2025 | Benefits, Contracts, Processes, Supply Chain Career
Are you ready for the holidays? Those of you in retail are responding, “Of course, I’ve had to be worrying about stocking up and overseas freight for weeks now. After all, some FedEx Demand Surcharges start on September 29th this year.” The rest of you might be...
by Janice Marquardt | Aug 12, 2025 | Contracts, Processes, Savings
There’s only one place I’ll use the word “vendor” instead of “supplier” regularly: Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI). Why? First, because this is an industry-wide and well-accepted term for having a supplier (or vendor) take charge of your stocking levels, refill used...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 22, 2025 | Contracts
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...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 8, 2025 | Definitions, e-Auctions, Savings
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...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 24, 2025 | Creative Solutions, e-Auctions
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...
