May 12, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Last week I attended SAPPHIRE 2008 in Orlando, Fla. This is easily one of the largest events I've seen yet. Conservative estimates had attendance at 15,000, but whispers in the Orange County Convention Center say it could have been higher than 18,000.

After about 10,000, I stop counting and pray I'm not run over by the crowd. The event had all the trappings one might expect from a company the size of SAP, including a networking cocktail reception for press and analysts at a luxury car club and an Eric Clapton concert.

The daytime events were interesting. As usual, the show floor was packed with participants, some with "booths" that were so large they can only be described as "sprawling." The theme this year was "business without boundaries." SAP, for its part, was trying to reinforce this concept with a service i...Read More

April 25, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I've discovered recently that supply chain management is conspiring against my efforts to maintain a healthier lifestyle, at least when it comes to grocery shopping.

Well, ok, my zeal for pretty much anything with peanut butter in/on it is nobody's fault but my own, but everyone has noticed lately the price of fresh produce, milk, and other perishables has gone up. Clearly, rising fuel costs are the primary factor to blame for it, but it also serves as a reminder that it's not just the flabby people among us who are inclined to taking the quick, cheap, most pleasant way out. 

And can you blame the corporations? In some ways, especially factoring in higher fuel costs, it costs a whole lot more to get fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which come from South America, into this country in a hurry. Waste too much time, and your product rots on the dock....Read More

April 15, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Well, as I noted in a previous blog post, it seems Wal-Mart is trying to tell China (or at least the company's suppliers in China) what to do with regard to green technology, and now it seems the airline industry here in the US is feeling the same pinch, this time from Europe. According to this article from Wired Magazine, the EU has set up some new legislation regulating carbon emissions by airlines traveling within Europe, but it doesn't stop there. The laws also affect any airlines that travel to and from Europe as well, meaning American air carriers are going to have to get on board, whether they like it or not. If they refuse, they will be barred from flying to Europe.

Needless to say, US air carriers are unhappy. Hmm, Wal-Mart bullying the Chinese, the EU bullying the airlines, I wonder if this is what Al Gore had in mind?

April 14, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

It seems China is feeling the heat from greener pastures, so to speak, according to the Vietnam Supply Chain Council.

American companies are under growing pressure, both from environmentalists and from their own interest to find innovative ways to boost profits, to seek out "greener" ways to do business.

Since another trend has pushed American companies, and companies everywhere else, for that matter, to outsource to China, it only follows that the pressure to "go green" would migrate to the Far East.

One sign that it has is this article from the council. Citing Reuters reports, the council says Wal-Mart is once again taking a "tough love" approach, this time with its Chinese suppliers, and this time to enforce Lee Scott's mandate to green up the co...Read More

Industries: Software & Technology

April 2, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

As I indicated in a prior post, I met recently with David Sievers, a principal at Archstone Consulting, a firm that co-wrote this piece we ran back in January.

One topic that came up was an online survey conducted by a committee of corporations and AMR Research that is attempting to determine, among other things, where the college graduates with the best supply chain management skills were coming from.

One executive I spoke to at the time said he and his company were interested in the study because they were tired of hiring people who didn't seem to have the requisite supply chain skills.

Sievers was careful not to say the surv...Read More