April 30, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

SCMR, in collaboration with CSC Consulting and Michigan State University, has been conducting our annual “Survey of Supply Chain Progress” since 2002. The study is intended to track how well supply chain practitioners are advancing along the key metrics of people, processes, and technology. Maybe you’ve read our reports on the annual survey results, which usually appear in our October issues.

Why are we telling you this? Because we’ve just begun the 2008 survey and we want you to participate. Essentially, the survey questionnaire asks about practices in technology adoption, collaboration (internal and external), and alignment of supply chain and business strategy. We also ask about the supply chain’s contribution to top and bottom line performance, and inquire about specific technology and program initiatives underway.

April 9, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Last year I wrote a column about the so-called mating season that bears revisiting this time of year. I noted that my first boss in the publishing business used to refer to the spring and summer months as the mating season.  That was the time when we reporters would go to the various industry events like the NASSTRAC and American Trucking Associations meetings in the spring and the CLM (now CSCMP) and NITLeague in the fall. (How long ago was this, you ask? Well I started on a magazine called Traffic Management, a job title you hardly hear any more.)

Anyway, our mission was fairly stra...Read More

March 26, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

A significant portion of SCMR readers (and viewers of this blog) work in a logistics- related job.  That’s why we’re always eager to see the results of the annual Salary Survey conducted by Logistics Management magazine, one of our sister publications at Reed Business Information.

The results for 2008, as in past years, bring a treasure trove of information and for thought.  As LM Senior Editor Jeff Berman reports in his comprehensive analysis of the latest findings (see http://www....Read More

March 13, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Ed Koch, a mayor of New York in the 1980s, had a particular way of benchmarking his performance as mayor of the city. As he traveled around the five boroughs, he would walk up to residents and simply ask, “How Am I doing?”  For Koch, that was a lot more effective, and probably a lot more accurate, than conducting expensive focus groups.

OK, that approach worked fine for hizzoner.  But how about supply chain managers that want to benchmark their performance against others.  How do they know what to me...Read More

February 6, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Where do you get your daily supply chain news?  Chances are, you turn to a number of sources—from popular general publications like the Wall Street Journal and Business Week to more targeted websites offered by the specialized business magazines and websites.

There’s one other source you should know about—a source that combines feeds from more than 200 entities and tailors the material based on what information is of interest to you.  This personalized news source is called SupplyChainDaily.com, www.supplyc...Read More