Articles by "Supply Chain"
Showing posts with label Supply Chain. Show all posts

on Friday, September 24, 2021 0

 


Big Data has been a central topic for corporations for many years now. Typically, this is associated with how organizations use analytics to figure out their most valuable customers, or to create new experiences, services, or products. When devising this strategy, the organization must be considerate of a few key factors:

  1. How will the data be used? What is the objective of obtaining this data?
  2. What story will the data tell?
  3. What does the data contain? Is Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI) included?
  4. Who within the organization plans to use the data?

All these questions are key to develop the data management architecture. The Architecture can be divided into three sections:

A.     Data Management

o   The way the data is collected and stored

·         Data Security

o   Part of the data management plan, but specifically focuses on the protection and transfer of data

·         Data Visualization

o   The output/analytics of the data that complete the story. This involves using the data to influence actions within the company 

As a procurement professional, one should consider coaching stakeholders on adding structure to these three sections before establishing their “Big Data” plan. When it comes to data management, a company can implore multiple methods to ingest and manage data. For example, there may be one method for handling customers that is then used for marketing, and another to handle product testing data to influence product development. Let’s consider a real example:

In the Pharma industry, understanding a patient’s lifecycle journey is often critical to conducting research to produce new medicines for the market. These companies need to understand how a patient may react/respond to treatment even when they have not been treated by the company’s medicines. To paint the full patient lifecycle picture, they need a lot of data from a lot of patients around the world. The good news is this data is for sale. The bad news is that the purchasing process can be tricky.

Patient data is protected by HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) Laws. This means that it’s unlawful for a company to buy, use, or track health information that can be directly tied to a particular patient without their consent or knowledge. But how do we create lifesaving pharmaceuticals without understanding the people they are meant to help?

We do something called, “Tokenization.” This allows companies to aggregate patient data and then anonymize it so it cannot be connected and tied back to any individual. By not linking this data to a name or person, we can understand a patient’s medical history without ever knowing the patience. Instead of John Smith, we now have JS100637. John’s name is never recorded or tied to the new “Token.” John as a patient may appear in multiple datasets hosted by various clinical sites that do not communicate with one another. But, by having a token, John’s information is anonymously stored to eventually provide us with the data that may create the next big vaccine or cure for cancer.

Big Data faces a lot of hurdles. Humans are resilient and compassionate. We find ways around the hurdles while also respecting one another and protecting our well-deserved privacy. In the world of procurement, we can be the facilitators of this discussion, ensuring our stakeholders consider each possible outcome and solution to the complex problems they aim to solve. The relationships that are required in the previous example are vital to building a stronger data management architecture. There could be one vendor to tokenize the data, another to establish the data management structure and storage needs, and a final vendor to address the visualization of the data. All must seamlessly work together to create a comfortable user experience with optimized efficiency and productivity.  

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on Friday, September 03, 2021 0

 

A black chalkboard with writing that reads, "HIRING!"

It’s not even autumn yet, but the world’s largest retailer is already looking the deck the halls of its supply chain in anticipation of the holiday season. Walmart hopes the addition of 20,000 full- and part-time Supply Chain professionals will help it maintain an edge over competitors like Amazon during the busiest shopping days of the year.

The Seasonal Supply Chain: Challenges Ahead

The nation’s biggest private workforce will grow thanks to more than 250 hiring events at Walmart and Sam’s Club facilities across the nation on both September 8th and 9th. Open positions range from freight handlers and lift drivers to managerial roles along Wal-Mart’s supply chain.

In addition to stiff competition from other e-tailers and retailers, Wal-Mart faces complications from the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic and labor shortage. The virus has slowed down manufacturing, shipping, and other essential supply chain stages for more than a year and these issues (along with related congestion and volatility) look certain to continue into 2022.

Standing Out in the Search for Supply Chain Talent

Last year, Walmart responded to unprecedented digital demand by hiring around 20,000 employees to full and part-time jobs. This was the organization’s first significant holiday hiring spree in a half decade. In-person shopping has become safer and more popular in the last year as vaccines have helped to mitigate infection risk, but online retail promises to define the holiday season yet again.

Walmart is touting competitive salaries (averaging $20.37/hour) as well as several new benefits. The organization has begun offering new bonuses to warehouse staff and covering education costs for certain employees. Beginning in October, Walmart will incentivize prospects and employees alike to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by offering an additional bonus. Many competitors are offering similar perks. Amazon, CVS Health, and Walgreens Boots Alliance have all announced plans to boost wages for new employees and Target operates a college program of its own.

Experts suggest they’ve all got their work cut out for them as 2021 draws to a close. Brian Devine, the Senior Vice President of ProLogistix, a staffing firm whose clients include retail giants like Walmart and Target, sounds particularly pessimistic. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, he remarks, “There’ssimply not enough human beings to fill all the open positions.”

What Do Candidates Want? 

With a huge number of open positions to fill, organizations ranging from small businesses to titans like Walmart are hard at work trying to learn what leading candidates want and equipping themselves to offer it.

Across industries and experience levels, leading candidates tend to want many of the same things:

  • Flexibility: One-size-fits-all approaches are anathema to results. Employees know this, which is why they develop their own strategies for addressing common tasks and overcoming obstacles. Organizations claim to believe this, but all too often ask candidates and employees to operate within rigid systems that stifle innovation and tarnish morale. 
  • Opportunity: Nobody wants a dead-end job. Even long-time employees won’t hesitate to leave if they get a sense that they’re bound to be stuck in the same position forever. To stand out, organizations need to regularly consult their people to ensure they’re offering a variety of responsibilities and providing adequate room for everyone at every level to grow. 
  • A Sense of Purpose: Professionals want to know that their actions at work have an impact and that their employers have a positive effect on the world at large. Survey data regularly shows that younger professionals in particular are eager to work for mission-driven organizations that do more than just talk the talk when it comes to critical issues. 

Staff Your Supply Chain

Looking for temporary Procurement and Supply Chain hires to meet seasonal need, support major initiatives, or explore a new category? Corcentric’s recruiting and staffing experts may be able to help. Check out this case study describing an engagement with a North American pharmaceutical leader. 

 

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on Thursday, August 26, 2021 0

 The movement of goods from one point to another is complex - the transportation industry is a blend of the networks, infrastructure, equipment, information technology, and employee’s necessary to transport a large variety of products safely and efficiently throughout the nation and around the world. Although generally considered separate transportation entities, trains, planes, ships and trucks are actually part of an integrated network.

With such varieties in how company’s ship their goods, its impossible for two organizations to have the exact same supply chain profile. For this reason, to compare data from one shipper to the next, it can cause misguided recommendations and expectations. Benchmarking data versus industry wide historical rates or against other shippers does not account for future trends and predictive modeling.

In the Big Data Era, companies in a variety of industries, including transportation, more acutely feel the need to collect information most relevant to their businesses. They want to find a way to make decisions based on accurate information at the right time. To achieve this, the development of systems that can transform the data collected information from which to generate actions that benefit the business directly.

Some of these benefits may be:

  • Identifying growth opportunities – internal and external data analysis can help to shape and forecasting business results, allowing identification of the most profitable growth opportunities, as well as some differentiators for business
  • Improving business performance – data analysis facilitates agile planning, forecasting more accurate budgeting and improved planning is an important tool for decision making
  • Better management of risk and regulatory requirements – data analysis allows improved reporting procedures, identification of risk areas such as compliance violation, fraud or reputation damage
  • Using emerging technologies – can identify new opportunities for obtaining information relevant to business management, based on new technologies

Very few companies use the full potential of predictive analysis. On the other hand, this approach often comes into conflict with trying to keep under control and lowering IT costs. Therefore, identifying and capitalizing on available information and identifying information sources that can support the generation of new opportunities have become the main challenge.

Effective integration of predictive analysis in business management has a measurable impact on performance because it allows better planning, weather clearer and more informed decisions, resulting in increased profits, reduce risk and increase business agility.

Using predictive analytics is useful transport companies to ensure that all relevant functions involved in the process so as to obtain an overview and to minimize information leakage. Information about consumers are a typical example in this respect: sales have billing addresses data and record transactions, marketing has information obtained from the analysis of feedback coming from consumers and the logistics department has details on concrete deliveries. All this information can sometimes double or vary from one department to another.

A coherent analysis of all these data can be a challenge, but an accurate analysis and enhanced business can generate added value. 

Stop living in the past and jump on the predictive analysis train…or truck…or ship.

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on Thursday, July 29, 2021 0


 

Supplier relationships have always been front and center in the procurement world. They are pivotal to ensure operations are not disrupted, value is being created and performance measures are being met. Suppliers come in all shapes and sizes and have a varying degree of priority for each company. Oftentimes preferred suppliers get the front row from management however it is important to give focus and attention to the smaller guys as well who may provide a strategic advantage. In looking at suppliers there are direct and indirect. Direct being those that provide inputs for a final end product and indirect those that provide services enabling business operation.

In difficult times supplier relationships can become an organizational asset, ensuring that your businesses’ needs get the priority that they deserve. Commonly SRM or Supplier Relationship Management has been deployed to help keep both supplier metrics and relationships in check. However, one thing not commonly employed is joint ventures/partnerships or investments. Since the pandemic began one company, Stanley Black & Decker, is utilizing investments to build strategic alliances across its supplier base as noted in a recent WSJ article dated 6/18/21. The concept is relatively simple, Stanley Black & Decker will co-invest a substantial sum of money into the suppliers operations. This investment may be in a needed production line or other delivery mechanism for an end product that will be purchased by Stanley Black & Decker.

In this particular situation Stanley Black & Decker is interested in securing scarce battery and chip resources in todays marketplace. This is a great strategic move to shore up scarce resources. We are seeing chip shortages impact automobiles, computers, phones and gaming systems across the board. Employing an investment strategy can help ensure that your organization can have access to the right materials at the right time. If a supplier does not have any affiliation or deep connection to your organization they will be less willing to prioritize your needs above other customers on their list.

While some may view this practice as costly it actually can be advantageous in the long run. Employing this strategy can lead to a lower overall cost of business especially when supply chains are pushed to their max capacity as we have seen during the COVID pandemic. Taking an investment approach can be especially impactful for those suppliers who are small, growing and show a lot of future promise. These early consequential investments will help grow trust, partnership and collaboration that is sure to serve well into the future. Structure your organizations supply base with the right mix of diverse suppliers and supply relationships to serve your organization in good times and bad. The payoff will be immense and help to give you both upside and protect any potential downside.

Supply relationships and having the right inputs at the right times can have immense consequences on your organizations bottom line and financial performance. Remember the correct investments will not only lead to a positive and high ROI but will also help maintain the right relationships to help give your organization a strategic advantage.
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on Friday, July 23, 2021 0

 For those of us in the Procurement field, negotiating can be the most uncomfortable skill that we must master. Many factors play into a negotiation, and the considerations can easily become overwhelming. There is often so much on the line. The supplier relationship, the client relationship, and the sourcing initiative’s success can all ride on this one simple step.

I believe the skill of negotiating also has the most misconceptions attached to its name. Many think the best of the best dig a hard line in the sand and stick to it. The most successful negotiators are the sternest. But, when you are searching for a win-win, is this the most logical strategy? I do not believe so. Being aggressive towards your counterpart does not lead to successful partnerships. To give an inch and take a mile will not build a long-term relationship that promotes positive growth for your organization.

So, how do you deploy a negotiation that is successful, builds partnerships, and does not make you want to rip your hair out? Read on to see my favorite tips that I employ with my friends, family, clients, suppliers, and in long conversations with my dogs when they are being bad that they absolutely do not understand.

Do NOT Draw A Line in the Sand

As I stated before, the misconception of drawing an arbitrary line and sticking to it no matter what is not negotiating. Negotiating requires some form of compromise from all the parties included. Even with all the power, do you really want to crush a smaller sized supplier? Will the supplier want to help you when times get tough, like in the supply chain disruptions of 2020 due to COVID, if you just gauged them for a single sided contract? Instead, hear each party’s wants and needs and craft a deal that is mutually beneficial. It almost always creates a better agreement in the long term.

Business is Business, Kind Of…

In a negotiation, even when attempting to create a mutually beneficial deal, things can get heated. Remember that your negotiation counterpart is a representative of a larger organization. They have higher ups, in most cases, that are really making the decisions. So, what should you do? Separate the negotiation from the person. Just because they are not compromising on a specific piece of the sought-after agreement does not mean they are attacking you. The issue is YOU. You are too closely tied to your points and are projecting the same attachment on your counterpart. Talk it through and find out why they are not budging. Attempt to craft a solution that provides enough promises to get them to budge or ask for something in return elsewhere to even the playing field.

Kindness is Not Necessarily Good

If you are not a confrontational person that is often a positive. However, sometimes that can cripple you. Just because the goal is a mutually beneficial deal in your mind does not mean that it is in your counterpart’s mind. If you are too kind to objectively quantify your position and stick up for your reasoning, you can open yourself up to getting steamrolled. The lack of tact can lead to bad terms for you and portray that you can be taken advantage of. This will harm your future negotiations, as well. If you have sound reasoning, explain it until the supplier wholly understands. If you do not feel you can push back, get someone who will. Using your coworker’s skills is a benefit to the organization and there is nothing shameful about requiring help.

Require Objectivity and Objectivity Only

Finally, perhaps the most important tip I can offer is to keep negotiations objective. Subjectivity leads to the “drawing a line in the sand” type of negotiations in my first tip. It can also lead to a personal attachment to the items you are negotiating. If you do not think of objective reasons as to WHY compromise should take place, you are not crafting solutions. You are creating whimsical ideas and acting as if they are objective. There is no room for impulsive decision making in negotiating. Use logic, math, statistics, and hard data to provide actual reasoning as to why you want what you want. Use the same objective standard to provide solutions that simultaneously show how your offering gives the supplier what they want, as well. That is creating a true win-win situation.

Hopefully, employing these tips can aid you in more successful and less stressful negotiations. This step in the Procurement process does not have to be the worse. If done right, it can be an enjoyable way to build your rolodex of supplier contacts for future projects. Long lasting, very beneficial relationships can be built that put you and the supplier in an advantageous position within your market.

For more on this topic click here!

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on Wednesday, July 21, 2021 0

For those who have just graduated high school, a difficult decision lies ahead. You may be enjoying your freedom for the summer, but what career field you will study will need to be decided very soon. If you already made your selection, you also may be wondering if the choice was the right one. Your whole life will be greatly affected by your decision. Will you do something you enjoy, something fulfilling, or something challenging? How about all the above! Procurement is your answer.

So, what is Procurement? According to Investopedia.com, Procurement is the act of purchasing or otherwise taking possession of something, especially for business purposes. To simplify, we in the field of Procurement strategically setup relationships to buy the goods and services a company will need to operate. This seems like something that every company already does, but surprisingly it is not. Every organization, big or small, can benefit from effective Procurement.

Here are a few reasons as to why Procurement is such a great selection for your future career.

1.   Growth Within the Field

Remember in 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world and companies were tightening budgets? A simple way for a business to save money is to get strategic about HOW they are buying their needed goods and services. Many companies realized this throughout the last year, and even a little before. By 2028, the Procurement as a Service (PaaS) market is expected to reach 12 billion! This is simply for outsourcing functions related to purchasing. Imagine what the number would be if you added companies who internally control their Procurement functions.

2.    Challenge Yourself How You Want

The art of scoping, sourcing, contracting, and finding savings is more of a challenge than you may think. You must find your current state as a comparison tool to know if your effort was effective. You must know exactly what you want to purchase. You must find who you want to purchase from and come to contract terms that benefit both your organization and the supplier. Planning, organization, data analysis, negotiation, and communication are just some of the skills you will need to develop. Whatever you enjoy, a function of Procurement will require knowledge in that area. You can become a jack of all trades or become a subject matter expert. You can be a strong negotiator or analyze data on your computer for a living. The option to do what you want and challenge yourself how you prefer is absolutely within the field.

3.   
You Will Pay For Yourself

If you are effective, a Procurement department will literally pay for itself. That is job security! Being strategic about how you purchase goods and services can save a company millions. If you analyze expenditures and personnel, the ability to pay for yourself is clearly there. When we were dealing with COVID-19, tightening of budgets caused many to be laid off. Not in Procurement. Us Procurement folks have the business case of being paid for with our efforts. It is not a difficult business case to make either.

These are just a few of the benefits that working within the Procurement field can offer. The career journey can take you from entry-level positions all the way to the C-suite. It is exciting and fulfilling. Whether you are unsure about your choice or completely confused on what your calling is, take the time to consider Procurement. If you are like me, it may be the perfect fit!

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on Monday, July 12, 2021 0


During the first half of 2021, we have seen a record number of ransomware attacks with unprecedented impact across the economy. Before this new wave of attacks, hackers often limited their targets to large corporations and international businesses. Now, government agencies/public institutions and small/mid-sized businesses are the primary victims.

In this article, we will focus on the key actions a Procurement Department can take to prepare, prevent, respond, and recovery when it comes to ransomware attacks.

First, what is ransomware?

According to the U.S. Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Assurance Agency (CISA(opens in a new tab)): “Ransomware is an ever-evolving form of malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering any files and the systems that rely on them unusable. Malicious actors then demand ransom in exchange for decryption. Ransomware actors often target and threaten to sell or leak exfiltrated data or authentication information if the ransom is not paid.”

A few recent examples:

-        Colonial Pipeline: DarkSide, the company behind the attack, targeted
the billing system and internal business network of the Colonial Pipeline in the United States. The impact was widespread gasoline shortages in multiple states. The FBI covered a significant amount of the $4.4 million paid as ransom.

-        Brenntag: DarkSide also targeted Brenntag in a similar way, receiving a ransom payment of $4.4 million as well (not yet recovered.

-        CD Projekt Red: Attacked by HelloKitty hackers. The result was encrypted devices and threats of leaked source code.

Other companies that experienced a major hack:

-        Acer

-        JBS Foods

-        Quanta

-        National Basketball Association

-        AXA

-        CAN

-        Kia Motors

 

The methods hackers use are constantly becoming more complex and agile. Cybersecurity experts learn new ways to fight these threats each day. The most prevalent methods are 2-factor authentication, strong and effective firewalls/antivirus/anti-malware software, limited access to information for each employee, and routine backups.

What role can Procurement take in contributing to security success?

First, Procurement, Risk Management, and IT need to collaborate when onboarding strategic partners. The strategic sourcing process is integral in establishing the right tools and actions to protecting a company. We can break this down into 4 major sections. Each is in relation to vendor interactions, contractual requirements, and policies.

Prepare

Prevent

Respond

Recover

Prepare:

The safest way to prepare for a malware/ransomware attack is to assume it is inevitable. The security organization will more likely have an infrastructure in place to handle this. We should work this same mindset into our partner relationships.

Procurement is encouraged to require vendors to prepare for an attack in the same ways as their own organization. Partners can be mandated to routinely backup client data, have safeguards in place, and have a full redundancy plan in the event an attack occurs.

Prevent:

Procurement, Risk Management, and IT should collaborate on choosing the best IT Security Partner (or in-house solution) to prevent a malware/ransomware attack. When procurement facilitates strategic sourcing projects, they can effectively collect the requirements from across the company and ensure effective communication. Getting the right contract in place requires cross-team functionality. Procurement is best equipped to make this happen.

During supplier selection, an IT vendor assessment/questionnaire should be worked into an RFP. This assessment aims to test the partner’s cybersecurity strength and redundancies.

Respond:

Paying a ransomware attack is highly discouraged. Payments often influence “copycats” and more malicious behavior.

As this becomes more common, contracts with vendors should explicitly address how vendors should respond to ransomware attacks. The cost of the ransom and the cost of not paying should be compared. Contracts should aim to build every possible outcome and even stipulate who will be responsible for the actions taken and how those impacted will be made whole.

Recover:

Speaking of being made whole, procurement can foresee this by building in cybersecurity insurance requirements into each contract. This insurance is specific and often not included in general insurance requirements. Setting limits and requiring proof of insurance must become the standard moving forward. As seen before, some attacks could require millions of dollars in ransom, or even more when trying to recreate or deal with the ramifications of losing authentic data. Having financial protection against this is key for a company’s survival. Ensuring vendors can survive an attack is a key to business continuity.

In addition, when contracts ensure vendors/partners must back up and store data securely, recovery is much less costly and difficult for the clients. Procurement and Vendor Management can request vendors stress test their systems and practice for if/when an attack occurs.  

 

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on Monday, June 28, 2021 0

 

In May, the prices of lumber reached historic highs. Now, they are dropping quickly, although there is still much further to go to return to pre-pandemic pricing.

On Friday, futures fell all the way to $774.00 – a sharp 53.7% decrease from the early May high of $1,670.50.

Suddenly, the bubble is bursting.

How did this bubble form?

Across several industries, shortages that happened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted development, supply, and price. This was felt in the construction industry, as prices for supply has risen along with a shortage of labor and increase in demand.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many lumber mills across the country shut down production in anticipation that there would be low demand for houses during the low point of the pandemic. Other factors, such as mills having to close out of precaution directly related to the pandemic, played a role as well.

This assumption that the housing market would suffer, however, was incorrect. During the pandemic, homeowners looked to do DIY projects around their home that involved lumber. And, as interest rates remained low, demand in the housing market boomed, causing a spike in demand for lumber.

Softwood lumber prices increased by 154.3% from May 2020 until May 2021, per May’s PPI report. In this same time, hardwood lumber prices increased by 36.4% and plywood increased by 70.4%. Other construction materials were impacted too – iron and steel scrap, for example, increased by 76.6%.

This increase in price coupled with a labor shortage that is impacting industries across the board caused a construction backlog that could not keep up with the demand for projects, specifically housing.

What caused the bubble to burst?

As the pandemic wore on and lumber mills remained closed or unproductive, some builders began to stockpile lumber.

At its May peak, the lumber reached a price point that was too high for most consumers. So, at its highest price, wood wasn't selling -- and the price turned.

This decrease in demand caused whose who stockpiled lumber to begin to sell off. So, the change in price of lumber the last few weeks have been a classic economics lesson. Demand decreased, supply increased and prices plummeted. 

What next?

While lumber prices are in a free fall, it does not appear that they are even close to returning to the pre-pandemic prices, according to Devin Stockfish, chief executive of lumber producer Weyerhaeuser Co who spoke at a conference last week per Ryan Dezember of the Wall Street Journal.

“I don’t think $1,000 lumber prices are the new normal. But that being said, when you think about the amount of housing that we’re going to have to build in the U.S. over the next three, five, 10 years, that’s just a significant amount of demand for wood products.”

Interest rates remain low, so demand in the housing market is not going anywhere. Per Dezember, others at the conference thought that the price of lumber would hover between $700 and $800 – clearly well below where it was this May, but still above the pre-pandemic pricing.

The ever-changing lumber market over the last 16 months is just one example of how COVID-19 has changed the market in a significant way. It’s

And while prices are returning closer to normal, it is clear that the construction industry will continue to feel the effects left by the pandemic's original impact.

How does this impact sourcing?

The current freefall in prices changes the procurement strategy from even a month ago and serves as a reminder of the importance of evaluating your sourcing strategy as situations change.

Sourcing for lumber in this tumultuous scenario may be complicated in an RFP process. Lumber mills may now be inclined to just sell to the highest bidder, especially as prices quickly plummet. On the demand side, it may serve best to find the lowest price as mills try to unload as quickly as possible rather than settle on a long-term agreement before prices return to a steady price.

Turning to Corcentric to help source through the after-effects of the pandemic can pay dividends, with service offerings that can help to navigate these fluctuating prices and find the best value for your company.

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on Wednesday, June 09, 2021 0

How a digital supply chain can help transform the future of logistics

The world is moving from physical to digital, from wasteful to sustainable, from delayed to instantaneous, and from manual to automated. This faster pace of commerce and the disruptions force us to re-think how we do business. As a result, this
innovation provides an opportunity in disruption. It creates fertile ground for innovation and partnerships that deliver new products, services, and business models to an industry that is in dire need of re-inventing itself to keep pace.

The future of logistics benefits from the data provided by multiple systems, advanced analytics, and the automation of intelligence. As information is provided through the many different sources, the digital supply chain connects technologies, assets, systems, and locations to enable real-time analysis, smarter decision making, and informed actions inside the supply chain.

The data provides predictive analytics that helps shape new strategies for transportation and logistics. It takes into account all variables inside the supply chain, as well as traffic, weather, and social trends, to create an accurate plan. It also allows for flexibility. For example, instead of creating monthly plans, strategies are set weekly or daily to meet inventory volatility and customer demand.

While this breaks the traditional steps between fixed processes, it opens the door for continuous improvement. It allows for better placement of inventory in warehouses that drives quicker order fulfillment. The data, connectivity, and analytics provides the foundation for automation and smart warehouses.

Robotics such as autonomous forklifts, transporters, and assembly line vehicles provide a safe, efficient, and reliable solution for the movement of goods in a warehouse, while improving productivity, visibility, and customer service levels.

Wearable technology gives managers and employees the capability to exchange data between devices and the network. Wearables support core processes such as shipping, receiving, routing, inventory management, picking, and replenishment.

Outside of the walls of warehouses and distribution centers, advanced vehicle technology that includes everything from in-cab systems to engine and trailer diagnostics, and from electric and hydrogen fuel systems to autonomy is transforming the supply chain. Connected trucks have the ability to provide a plethora of data that translates into business intelligence and key predictive analytics with the right people utilizing it.

Having all these pieces in place – technology, data, analytics, warehouse automation, advanced vehicles, and infrastructure – a connected digital supply chain can be adaptive and responsive to the demands of consumers. It gets products to assembly lines quicker and when needed. It strategically maps warehouses and distribution centers for inventory placement, and eliminates waste inside the supply chain. It drives accurate, efficient, and accelerated e-commerce fulfillment and last mile delivery.

The digital supply chain connects everyone involved from suppliers to the consumer. Products can be seen moving through the supply chain, fleets can maximize uptime, and consumers can better predict the delivery of their products they purchased. Companies can meet sustainability regulations, digitize records, and forecast better.

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on Tuesday, June 01, 2021 0

Many companies in today’s world are driving organizational growth via the acquisition of businesses and competitors that operate within the same marketplace.  This concept allows for rapid growth and an immediate uptick in current market share of the industry being serviced, as opposed to an often slower organically executed strategy.  While many positives come as a result of the immediate growth realized from acquisitions, many hurdles also exist.  One of those hurdles this blog will address is the process of successfully implementing acquired companies into your organization’s sourcing and contracted supplier programs.   


Identifying Acquired Company’s Supplier Spend & Trends

As soon as the acquisition is closed, it is important to gain an immediate understanding of how spend has been flowing, and to what suppliers within the newly acquired group.  Running an internal report showing high-level General Ledger spend broken down by categories should help easily identify the key suppliers being utilized.  Once this spend is categorized and filtered by highest annual supplier, begin identifying any contracts tied back to these high spend suppliers.  If you are unable to identify the most up-to-date contract internally, reach out to the supplier directly for this information.    

Once the contracts are on hand, review them in-depth to identify any penalties or clauses related to early termination.  Often times contracts have buy-out clauses within them related to early termination, which depending on the total spend identified may be in your best interest once the total cost of ownership is fully realized.   

Also, if this acquired organization happens to use one of your contracted national providers, a simple amendment to your national agreement can be executed in a matter of days to immediately roll the acquired group’s locations into your program with minimal downtime and oversight required.  Always be on the look-out for these quick wins when running through the supplier identification phase of an acquisition.


Implementation 

Once legacy contractual obligations have been sorted through, the next step is to ensure the newly acquired organization understands the proper purchasing programs that should be utilized.  Depending on the size and complexity of your purchasing programs, the roadmap that often leads to success is through hosting program introductions and training sessions.  These trainings often include the distribution of buying guides, a demonstration of online purchasing portals, and Q&A portions at the conclusion with each supplier’s national account manager to talk through any specific questions.


Monitoring Progress & Compliance

The compliance tracking portion of major implementations is a critical piece of the process that is often times understated by many organizations.  Establishing effective processes to help monitor implementation and buy-in at the local level will enable your organization to easily pivot towards corrective action to ensure long-term success and buy-in.  This crucial step will immediately help identify and eliminate bad habits at the local level as soon as possible.

This part of the process is where you can begin to lean on the effort and accountability of your contracted supplier’s national account manager.  The account manager may even have personal incentives tied back to sales performance volumes with your organization, use this to your advantage and begin establishing a weekly or bi-weekly cadence early on to track the program’s progress and purchasing levels.  Creating a document such as a “compliance tracker” that the account manager oversees will help monitor each location’s actual vs forecasted spend.  During these meetings if any locations are trending in the wrong direction, a combined communication effort from your organization as well as the national account manager should help establish strong messaging to the local level regarding the importance of this program.  

If these steps shared above are executed in a consistent manner throughout the acquisition process, the groundwork for a long-term successful purchasing program will be established.

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on Wednesday, March 03, 2021 0

 As summarised in my previous blog here, building a very strong partnership with your suppliers is one of the key steps towards being a resilient organisation. In this blog, I will try to detail some of the steps one can take towards building a mutually beneficial partnership with suppliers.

Procurement is reliant on suppliers. You can run a procurement organisation without people, process or even technology - albeit not well, but you cannot run a procurement organisation without suppliers. As such, I consider suppliers to be a founding stone for procurement - if procurement were, say, a building.

With the changes and volatility that we are experiencing in the market in recent weeks, it is now more than ever imperative to build an ecosystem where transparency is the key in the relationship with your suppliers; supplier, contracts, category management and even sourcing is no longer about driving savings, efficiency, quality alone. It is also how you inculcate a relationship with your supplier to deliver strategic business value to the business.

Such partnerships have evolved in recent times - companies are increasingly working with their partners to provide cross-functional capabilities within their product ranges. Co-creations from suppliers, suppliers acting as a sales engine, suppliers that fulfill a gap in a product line etc. to name a few are more common now than they were before!

A recent survey from McKinsey in fact goes on to show how companies with advanced supplier collaboration capabilities tend to outperform their peers with 196% EBIDTA percentage growth in company scores of supplier development and innovation.

More than a decade ago, I worked as a category manager for a FMCG company for several categories. It was a great experience...as I quickly began to understand the various commercial structures this company put in place with its suppliers - some of the commercial value sharing models even had co-funded pools where co-development was one of the deliverables that the supplier took on. However, one of the key things in order for such programs to be a success is to develop a process with a structured approach and governance that defined joint objectives, a business case that was beneficial and compelling to both parties, clear and well defined commercials/sharing mechanism with detailed roles and responsibilities, and finally alignment of the incentives of all teams concerned.

Building a strong partnership with your suppliers needs an engaged approach to your relationship with them - this could be fuelled further with the right performance management structures such as a 360 degree feedback mechanism wherein not only are you rating your suppliers but they are rating you too. And such programs work only if the feedback is documented, received correctly, acted upon and done on a regular basis.

For any procurement organisation that is looking to grow into a world class procurement organisation, supplier management, collaboration and engagement is a must-have toolkit. When you have achieved a  desired level of optimisation and have perfected your negotiation strategies to obtain maximum benefits, any further growth and progress of the organisation will need to have a new approach to collaborating with your suppliers. 

I will leave you with 3 key points to building strong partnerships with your suppliers:

1. Invest in a supplier relationship management program to ensure sustainability over time. Ensure you have the right resources, objectives, infrastructure and methodology to run this program.

2. The best way to begin as always is by getting a better visibility into your spend and then use this information to identify those suppliers that could significant value to your business in order to nurture these relationships.

3. Ensure all communications with suppliers are clear, transparent, consistent and easy to access and keep track of by both you and the supplier.

In case you are looking for more guidance or even a place to start with respect to supplier management, Corcentric's Advisory practice team can help you and orient you on how to carry out the steps outlined above.

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on Friday, February 26, 2021 0


Quarterly Business Reviews, also known as “QBRs” are a critical piece associated with any successful supplier relationship program.  While interacting with clients and suppliers, a concerning trend often identified is that many organizations seem to lack any strategic level of relationship management once a long-term agreement has been put in place between two parties.  In other words, a supplier’s contractual agreement is essentially put on “auto-pilot” with minimal oversight until it is ready for renewal.  This is a critical misstep that organizations should avoid, much like not taking your car to the mechanic for a check-up, not having check-ups scheduled with your contracted supply base will lead to an inevitable breakdown of expectations between both sides overtime.  This blog will help explain how establishing QBRs with a supplier for 1 hour per quarter will help save your organization countless hours and dollars via strategic alignment and corrective action.


Suppliers to coordinate QBRs with

If you are an organization with a large umbrella of suppliers providing a wide array of services, QBRs simply are not a viable solution for every supplier that is under contract.  The goal here is to identify what I like to call “mission-critical” suppliers that your organization relies on for success.  In other words, that supplier’s success leads to your success.  Keeping a pulse on these key suppliers will not only ensure continuous progress is occurring, but it also helps drive home the fact that accountability and open communication is an expectation for all parties involved.  For contracted suppliers not associated with mission-critical pieces of your operation, annual reviews are an excellent alternative to ensure goals and expectations are still being met.   


QBRs and contracting

After identifying your mission-critical suppliers that will require QBRs, it is important to ensure your contractual agreements are crafted in a way to help manage expectations for these reviews moving forward.  Another way to look at this - If it is important to you, make sure it is in the agreement to ensure all parties are on the same page.  The agreement should clearly highlight required KPI reports and other trackable metrics that must be provided on a quarterly basis for the team’s review.  This type of reporting can easily be tied back to prior reports which will allow for simple trend identification and problem solving for any potential pain-points. 


What should be discussed during a QBR

Create a clear concise agenda with critical talking points to ensure all topics are given ample time for review.  It is also important to ensure you invite key decision makers and critical stakeholders only, this will allow for quick and easy alignment regarding any strategic level concerns due to the organizational hierarchy already being present.  

A critical piece that should be included in your agenda is the discussion and review of KPI reports that were negotiated at the onset of the agreement.  While KPI metrics vary greatly between categories, a few metrics that tend to provide value include topics such as: Financial Performance, Customer Satisfaction, Business Processes and Organization Growth/Forecasting.


Next steps after a QBR

Get the next QBR on the calendar!  You would be shocked how difficult it is to have all calendars align between both parties when many members on the call are a part of senior leadership.  Utilize this time to have everyone open their calendars prior to ending the meeting to establish the date and time for the next QBR.  You also want to take the time to assign actionable deliverables and goals not only for the next QBR but for any pain-points identified during this meeting that require immediate corrective action.  Be sure to assign due dates and do not forget to send out an update at the end of the meeting reminding everyone of their assigned action items and delivery dates.


The end goal of a QBR is to essentially have this supplier perform better for you than for your competitors.  Chances are your competition is utilizing this supplier in some capacity as well, as a result going through the process of creating trackable metrics to help manage expectations on a quarterly basis will ensure this supplier performs better for you than your competitors.


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on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 0

As most are aware, 2020 was a challenging year for everyone. While some businesses and industries were able to thrive, others needed to be creative in their ability to adapt and survive. One of the key takeaways from 2020 was how to prepare for drastic times and make sure if anything like 2020 happens again, we are all better prepared. 

Looking forward to 2021 within the Logistics Industry, you will see some of what we have come to expect stay the same. While in other areas, there will be change, most likely permanent change, that will affect the industry moving forward. Below you will find a few highlights and updates from the beginning of 2021 and looking to the rest of the year for both the Less-Than-Truckload and Full-Truckload markets. 

 LTL General Rate Increases:

Most carriers implement annual GRIs for noncontractual freight to absorb cost inflation, including driver and dockworker pay increases and ongoing investments in tech and real estate. In 2021, driver recruitment and retention expenses represent one of the biggest cost headwinds for carriers. Fuel expenses have moved higher as well, but separate surcharge mechanisms are in place to capture fluctuations.

So far early in 2021, the majority of the increases are in the 5% to 6% range, likely indicative of tightening LTL capacity and a rate-disciplined environment.

LTL Carrier Pricing Trend:

More carriers are getting better intelligence around what they are hauling and how it impacts their costs. This will continue to push freight not ideal for LTL, small shippers especially, away from a model of base rate/discount and into blanket rates, most likely from brokers.

This in turn, will drive more development of dynamic and dimension driven pricing around carrier blanket/broker programs. Some carriers are already going down this cube and density path.

Regardless of where your current freight model currently sits, the industry is continuing to evolve which makes strong relationships with your carriers a critical path to optimal LTL pricing. 

Update on the Purchase of UPS Freight:

Montreal-based TFI International Inc. has agreed to purchase UPS Freight for $800 million. About 90% of the acquired business will operate independently within TFI International’s LTL business segment under a new name, TForce Freight. UPS Freight’s dedicated truckload assets will merge into TFI’s truckload segment.

TForce Freight will continue to serve UPS’ ongoing LTL distribution needs, and UPS will continue to provide freight volumes and other services to TForce Freight after the transaction for a base term of five years. UPS Freight employees will go with the business to TFI.

Trucking Market for 2021

Up until two years ago, most companies have purchased a set amount of freight transportation via an annual bid process, and then modified that contract as needed as their freight demands increased or decreased. That changed in 2018, when capacity crunches and driver shortages took hold of the industry. Fast-forward to 2020, and the annual bid is once again proving useless as companies scramble to secure capacity at the right price and with the best possible terms. The market is going to go up and down, so trying to reap the benefits in each of these peaks or valleys just doesn’t make sense long-term.

Both shippers and providers have also come to realize that all freight isn’t the same, and that it shouldn’t be treated as such. For example, every company should have a portfolio of ways of interacting with the different carriers. If you have a lane that ships once every quarter, you’re not going to have the same relationship as a lane that has 20 loads a week or 10 loads a day.

Shippers and carriers are both recognizing the need to look at the entire network and all the different lanes that they’re trying to secure a relationship with. Then, they can decide what part of the continuum will work best—spot, dedicated or some form of contract in the middle

The future…

Many large companies have failed to invest much capital into the building and automating of robust transportation systems

That changed when the global pandemic came into view and began disrupting the world’s supply chains, making transportation much more than just a necessary evil. And while the pandemic as a whole has exacted a steep toll on human lives and livelihoods, it’s also pushed more organizations to rethink how they manage their logistics and freight operations.

Companies are realizing it’s a must to invest in technology and automate transportation-related processes. The automation of freight management should continue to grow over the next few years. Artificial intelligence will play a bigger role in this evolution by providing shipment visibility, exceptions management, and risk management tools that address issues like weather and traffic.

Whenever you can take a handwritten bill of lading, digitize it, and then report on it in a matter of seconds, it gives a shipper the best chance for a successful and efficient supply chain and logistics network. As these and other advancements become more prevalent in freight management, they’ll dramatically drive down the costs and improve efficiencies across the board.


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on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 0


For as long as I have known, procurement organisations have been measured by its efficiency - this could be determined by the savings they produce, quicker turn around times and efficiency in approvals ("Where is my PO stuck?", "When will my goods arrive?", "When will my supplier get paid?" are terms everyone is familiar with).

As described in my previous article, Covid-19 has changed the way procurement functions and works! After all, what's better to do in the aftermath of a crisis than to learn from it and change the way we work. Resiliency is the need of the hour.

In July 2005, I was working for a large company in Mumbai that was in the process of implementing a data center for its customer. Everything was going great. Goods were being delivered by the suppliers on time, the installation and implementation was in full swing. We had ordered tape drives (DL-380 if my memory serves right) from a supplier in Finland. The tape drives arrived at the customs office on 25th. We cleared them from customs (there are a billion forms involved) and brought them into our warehouse on the 1st floor of our facilities in the outskirts of Mumbai - which also housed warehouses and logistics facilities for a lot of companies. The installation was scheduled to take place on the 28th (as there was some pre-work - cabling etc. that needed to be completed). If you are familiar with what happened next - it was a nightmare that one couldn't have fathomed. The Mumbai floods impacted each and every inch of Mumbai like never seen before. By the evening of the 26th, the tape drives(along with a lot of other equipment and most of Mumbai really) was submerged in water. 

So we now had procured a tape drive that was expensive, not delivered to the customer and hit not only the looming data center installation deadlines but as anyone in supply chain is painfully aware, the insurance did not cover natural disasters and hence it hit our costs as well. As luck would have it, the supplier did not have another one ready for shipment either. Not surprisingly, we quickly then had to fold the costs within the margin of the whole project leaving us with absolutely no more room for error or delays. Needless to say, it ended up being a project where the cost was higher than the sale!

In the aftermath of this event, we quickly went about building more strategic long term relationships -ones focussed not just on the money aspect and efficiency(SLAs) with our suppliers that were just collaborative in nature.

I think the Covid-19 situation has brought about a number of similar challenges. How can we ensure resilience in the procurement organisation that will help meet the challenges if and when the next wave of Covid-19 happens or in the aftermath of this pandemic? What about resilience in wake of Brexit? 

Focus on long term relationship fostering with your suppliers - Treat them as partners. Remember that great relationships are built are trust - this applies to your suppliers too. What this means is that you are no longer measuring your suppliers on efficiency alone but you create meaningful gain share contracts that lets them play a strategic role in the way you do business. Contracts are not just about how much savings you can deliver, but what is the right price to do business at which keeps the supplier motivated equally.

One of the key changes that we see taking place in the aftermath of Covid-19 and rightly so - is organisations taking stock of their risks and assessing if it is indeed wise to have single source supply bases for critical items especially when you consider:

1. Due to companies having focussed before on reducing costs and building efficiencies, the single source suppliers more often than not tend to be based in Asia or other low cost countries. 

2. For those suppliers based in such countries, deliveries are still delayed and challenging considering not just the amount of restrictions on trade per se that have been imposed by individual countries but also the logistical nightmares in terms of transport that Covid seems to have created.

The pandemic also seems to have created a volatile demand of goods - for instance, there was a spike in toilet paper purchase, which we all know will lead to a lesser than expected demand in the coming months for toilet paper and other such commodities. Costs for raw materials are also increasingly volatile owing to region specific shutdowns.

The point I try to make is this: Sometimes, it is not easy to to balance efficiency and resiliency. But the cost of doing nothing will also be very significant. In summary, here are some of the steps an organisation can take towards being resilient:

1. Build a strong partnership with your suppliers.

2. Diversify your partner ecosystem.

3. Ensure sufficient capacity buffers in your inventories/stock/forecasts.

4. Take stock of your procurement function, now!!!    


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on Monday, November 30, 2020 0



They say we are approaching a dark winter ahead with COVID-19 cases on the rise. There is however a glimmer of hope with a few promising vaccines in queue to receive expedited approval. This week it was reported that United Airlines began its first shipment of Pfizer’s vaccine from Brussels to Chicago. There is an immense effort underway regarding vaccine distribution and supply chains are going to be tested to their limits. This is definitely an all hands on deck moment and it is going to take a herculean effort on the part of many parties. The challenges ahead really emphasize the need for robust procurement and procurement fundamentals on a few levels. 

First is relationships. There are many companies out there with complementing capabilities that allow for a full end to end delivery of the vaccine. Without everyone working together for the collective good we won’t achieve accelerated results. Procurement teaches us the value of relationships and relationship management. We are human at the end of the day and challenges exist in breaking down communication barriers to ensure we can work with others effectively. Oftentimes procurement works with many stakeholders throughout a business, building consensus and alignment. These fundamental ideas are core to collaborating both internally within an organization or externally with partners and competitors. It is crucial when the stakes are high to evaluate the strengths each party brings to the table and let them own those areas. Additionally relationship management throughout the supply chain must be achieved in the present to ensure success as well as into the future for long term sustainability. Each critical supply relationship must be evaluated and a strategy crafted to ensure an effective partnership.

Second is cost. Many might be thinking with the time sensitive nature of this initiative there is no time to think about keeping costs in check. Rather I would challenge to say understanding cost drivers can help build a sustainable and robust solution that does not cave to unsustainability over time. In procurement oftentimes we look to reduce costs however that is not the only factor. We help to identify value, right size requirements and optimize resources. Reducing cost is a by product of all of those endeavors and helps drive the right level of value and resource within a business. Helping to optimize cost of vaccine distribution not only allows for a more accessible vaccine to all demographics and populations but also ensures companies will not go in the red undertaking this effort.

With all pieces of the puzzle coming together through relationship management, cost optimization and full integration across the board we can ensure a successful distribution of this critical vaccine. It is important to note some key procurement fundamentals are at play and will propel success. Many of these fundamentals can be applied to other challenges but it is ever important with the current pandemic to leverage these practices effectively.
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on Monday, November 30, 2020 0

Many organizations in the manufacturing and industrial field often find themselves working tirelessly to ensure employee safety is practiced through the utilization and procurement of a wide variety of PPE equipment.  The immediate threat of COVID-19 to the workforce has also created greater visibility within the safety category to ensure employees are properly protected.  The purpose of this blog is to help establish a roadmap related to the processes and procedures that will help your organization improve its safety program while also establishing significant cost savings. 

Well before the process of aligning on safety SKUs should be made, the first critical step is understanding and agreeing on the key decision makers within your organization regarding anything safety related.  If an Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) department is not established within your organization, now is the time to do so.  A reporting hierarchy within your EH&S department should also be clearly established.  For instance, an EH&S Director should be the final decision maker for safety compliance and SKU standardization at all facilities across the organization, while an EH&S Coordinator should be responsible for compliance and enforcement at the local level.  This reporting structure is a critical piece of your overall safety strategy not only to ensure compliance across the organization but to also guarantee significant cost savings.  

Once your EH&S team hierarchy is built and properly aligned, the next step is to understand the “need to have” vs “nice to have” safety SKUs for your organization.  Any “need to have” SKUs should be rather clear – these would include OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) required equipment related to your specific field or any gear that is paramount for employee safety that should be identified and clearly defined (hardhats, fire retardant coveralls, COVID facemasks, etc.).  Working to solve for the “nice to have” category is often times a very difficult to define gray area between comfort and cost.  For instance, if your team works outdoors often, consider investing in the “nice to have” option of weatherproofing materials to ensure rapid moisture evaporation and rain proofing to help drive efficiency.  When addressing the “nice to have” category, there are usually significant cost ramifications that need to be properly evaluated before making any significant decisions.

Once the need vs nice to have discussion has been aligned on, the next step is to begin understanding and developing a SKU consolidation strategy.  This critical step is what often separates a good safety program from a great safety program.  The goal here is to fully understand what PPE categories need to be utilized by your employees, and to establish EH&S approved only SKUs within each specific category.  This process will lead to a custom internal catalog between your employees and awarded safety supplier to ensure ease of purchasing and compliance.  In addition, this custom catalog will protect your organization from “off-catalog” non-compliant PPE gear that would create additional costs while also putting your employees at risk for potential injury.

When identifying the SKUs that will qualify for purchase in your custom safety purchasing catalog, it is important to do your due diligence and full evaluation of each SKU in the running.  For instance, when aligning on an item such as safety gloves, performing on-site testing and a comparison of cut-sheets for each product under consideration will help provide tangible data to help influence your decision.  The EH&S team can oversee this process by distributing the PPE gear under evaluation with accompanying surveys to select employees in the field, while also internally reviewing the safety standards and specs identified in each cut-sheet.  This process will establish both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of each pending SKU, which will prove to be tremendously helpful in guiding the EH&S team towards a final decision in establishing cost savings within an improved safety program. 


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on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 0

During times of stock shortages or last minute changes to orders we tend to lean heavily on our relationships with suppliers. And, most suppliers will understand the need to manage to changing customer requirements, respond quickly to changes, and fill orders on time for a competitive cost. However, we've seen relationships that begin with a mutual understanding of needs with a preferred supplier become difficult to manage, and costs can creep up year over year with an ad hoc management arrangement. 

One of the ways we've worked to mediate this possibility is with structured quarterly reviews and scorecards that maintain key performance indicators paramount in the supplier's mind as opportunities for maintaining and expanding the business. 

The main advantages to an ad hoc supplier relationship management approach are simplicity, focus on resolving specific and immediate tasks, and a relative small time commitment. This works perfectly for very small spend and infrequent ordering. 

However, the supplier usually receives inconsistent feedback and ends up managing orders/products to avoid errors, which can lead to the supplier having more information than the buyer and make it difficult to switch if pricing becomes non-competitive. 

When a supplier transitions from a secondary to a preferred status we tend to see a more structured approach result in strengthening the relationship and keeping costs under control. 

One of the main components of quarterly reviews is the key performance indicator scorecard. This is a set of jointly defined criteria such as on time orders, responsiveness to inquiries, stock of materials, competitive pricing, and discount structure that helps the supplier understand what's important to the customer and allows us to keep an objective record of the relationship with the supplier. 

This can also include weekly review calls with buyers for priority items or in times of volume increases and availability limitations. A centralized point of contact for all locations in the case of a national supplier can also lead to significant time savings and the ability to leverage spend across all locations. 

Therefore, if you do see an increase in the spend with a specific supplier and a greater reliance of the items purchased it may be time to move from ad hoc to structured supplier relationship management. The first step is simply to schedule a review with the representative, or to request a national representative be assigned to the account in addition to the local representative and discuss historic buying patterns as well as define the KPIs that are critical to the business. 

This may be quite an extended process depending on the products purchased, but the result will be a stronger partnership and competitive pricing.
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