Robert A. Rudzki

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Can Toyota Recover? - part I

Toyota, for many years the icon of manufacturing excellence and automobile quality, has stumbled badly. And, its stumble appears to have multiple dimensions; among them: 1. The actual design/production issues that underlie the reported quality concerns (brakes, acceleration). 2. The slow internal handling of quality data that pointed to problems that deserved correction. 3. The... More

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The Future of Procurement - IV: Speaking Like a CFO (part 3)

Another important aspect of Speaking Like a CFO is knowing how to build a business case in support of your overall transformation agenda, as well as business cases specific to subjects such as technology investments. When we work with clients, we prefer to start with a business case from a total transformation perspective. Why? It is part of a logical sequence, as outlined in Part 1 of this... More

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The Future of Procurement - IV: Speaking Like a CFO (part 2)

One important aspect of Speaking Like a CFO is demonstrating that you are adding genuine value. It can’t be a scorecard of inflated “supply chain dollars” - where everybody automatically takes the figures reported by procurement and reduces them by 25 percent, 50 percent or more in order to have something that is believable. The scorecard needs to be “P & L... More

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The Future of Procurement - IV: Speaking Like a CFO (part 1)

If attendance at a conference workshop is any indication, then the topic of how to Speak Like a CFO (and Gain Management’s Attention) is on a lot of minds these days. And it definitely should be on your mind, not just right now, but on an ongoing basis. Being able to communicate with your senior executives in their language, and thereby connect with them, is another element of the... More

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The Great Recession, or is it The Great Opportunity?

Ok—the Great Recession is officially over, according to the economists. Positive GDP growth is occurring in the U.S. and other major economies, and the labor markets are beginning to stabilize and improve. Whew, what a relief! Not so fast! The question you should be asking yourself is this: “What did I accomplish during the Great Recession?” If your answer is,... More