ICYMIM: May 15, 2017

ICYMIM: May 15, 2017

Source One's series for keeping up with the most recent highlights in procurement, sourcing, and supply chain news week to week. To stay updated on the latest supply management articles, check in with us every Monday.

The Challenge of Hiring "Procurement Butterflies"
Charles Dominick, NLPA Blog, 5/10/2017

As the millennial generation is becoming a greater percentage of today's professional workforce, their habits are influencing the way hiring managers approach bringing on new employees from their generation. The butterfly trend refers to a recent pattern throughout the professionals in this generation that switch jobs on average four times in their first ten years. The procurement industry is no exception for this trend, and Dominick recommends considering how to adjust the workplace to be one that these 'butterflies' can grow with to improve employee retention rates. In a lot of cases leadership plays a large role in millennials decision to seek opportunities elsewhere, so as procurement professionals from previous generations it's crucial to emphasis how the industry is growing and can offer potential career growth opportunities for these young professionals.

Procurement Won't Advance Until We Move Past Savings! 
Michael Lamoureux, AKA The Sourcing Doctor, Sourcing Innovation, 5/10/2017

In order for the industry to advance, Procurement needs to stop striving to balance management's mis-focus on savings by pushing cost reduction instead of cost-control. The function has moved past being solely savings driven, and offers the value of demand management, product-and-service-normalization and an overall value generation and maximization. The term savings implies that you were originally paying more than you should have, and while occasionally this is the case it is not the only way or the most effective way that Procurement adds value. Some firms capitalize on offering the concept of strictly reducing costs, when they aren't actually creating any value and will likely need to return to the category to re-negotiate those prices in two or three years.

Cobots Are Taking Over The Shop Floor
Christina O'Handley, ThomasNet, 5/10/2017

Everyday, traditional supply chain practices are being improved and replaced with new technology that can work more efficiently and in some cases for lower production costs. Deciding which of these new technological innovations will have the best ROI for your organization takes serious consideration, and before investing in these new opportunities it's important to analyze who else is using them and how they are performing in other businesses. One of the newest options hitting shop floors is the collaborative robot, AKA cobot. The cobot is a computer-controlled robotic device that assists with manufacturing and are being recognized for their ability to create a safer environment, greater flexibility than earlier robots, and more user-friendly models that overall ease the production process.