ISM Silicon Valley

Ketera, provider of the online Ketera Network business community, today announced that Epiphany Supply Chain Solutions, a provider of procurement and supply chain related services, has selected the Ketera Network as the platform to manage transactions for its no-membership-fee Group Purchasing Organization (GPO). The Ketera Network will enable the Epiphany Buying Portal to manage purchasing transactions of mid-sized businesses and is expected to be operational in January 2010.

The Epiphany Buying Portal on the Ketera Network is an online procurement site that provides pre-negotiated advantageous pricing for a selected group of categories to its GPO customers based on aggregated buying volume with certain suppliers.

i2 Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITWO) today announced the release of version 6.3.2 of i2 Supply Chain Strategist, a world-leading solution designed to optimize a company’s supply chain network to meet their business objectives. Companies in many diverse industries use i2 Supply Chain Strategist, including discrete and process manufacturing, retail, consumer goods and logistics providers. The latest release adds significant new features for performing optimizations while considering carbon emissions, sustainability and associated constraints.

Once upon a time, a direct marketer would come up with an offer for a particular market segment, work with a list provider to focus on likely recipients, have its advertising agency develop a package for the offer, send the package off to its printer, and then mail it.

That was then. Nowadays, a direct marketing offer can reach its potential customers through print mailings, e-mail blasts, Website offerings, television advertising, Internet promotions, social media, and the rest of the traditional and new media channels. Indeed, the supply chain itself now extends beyond mailing to include order taking, fulfillment, and customer service.

To effectively compete in the global market and maximize profitability, businesses need efficient and secure supply chains that meet the complex needs of their operations. Our supply chain & operations professionals provide insights into supply chain transformation, sourcing, procurement, logistics, engineering, manufacturing, final assembly and product service and delivery.

"We are finding new unexpected entrepreneurs entering the procurement arena," said Brian Tippens, HP's director of Supplier Diversity. "They include a large number of female and minority veterans back from the Iraq war unable to find employment and recent graduates in the same boat. Business Matchmaking is providing a uniquely effective and efficient means for reaching out to help them get started and to grow." Dave Sutton, a procurement director for the US Department of Justice, calls the Business Matchmaking events "outstanding." He added "Their exceptional ability to organize events, get the right people and produce the desired results is well proven." Peggy Williams of the US State Department agrees calling Business Matchmaking "premier events, well organized and well attended and their entire operation is world-class."

One casualty in the new year, Toon predicts, will be "transformation" as a supply chain strategy, as it will be replaced in the buzzword lexicography by "optimization." According to Toon, "Organizations still want to ‘transform' how they deliver back-office services, but they typically want to move in pragmatic, incremental steps and focus on achieving best-in-class, standardized and optimized delivery models."

Ann Grackin, chief executive officer of ChainLink Research, traces the evolution of ethical behavior throughout the supply chain. But is the trend motivated by a desire for profitability, the law, or just good intentions?

Few companies set out deliberately to commit unethical practices, says Grackin. But the quest for competitive advantage can have a serious impact on the way products are made, and how workers are treated. In today’s economic climate, “mostly we’re talking about a lack of vigilance in the business process,” she says.

Worldwide industrial services company Harsco Corporation (NYSE: HSC) has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) as its consulting partner for a business transformation initiative designed to create significant operating and cost efficiencies throughout Harsco's global supply chain, the companies announced today. 

"The intelligent supply chain of the future aligns perfectly with our One Harsco objectives for creating long-term strategic advantage as a more globally integrated and optimized enterprise," said Harsco Chairman and CEO Salvatore D. Fazzolari. "Working with IBM gives us access to one of the premier leaders in this field. Moreover, when completed at the end of 2010, we expect this project to improve our Return on Invested Capital and also contribute to Harsco's Economic Value Added (EVA®) growth." 

The Real Meaning of Supply Chain Management

It’s not just about logistics and purchasing. The supply chain consists of a broad network of partners who interact at every level of their organizations, says Douglas M. Lambert, director of the Global Supply Chain Forum at Ohio State University.

It’s more than just a question of semantics. The failure to give the term “supply chain” a broad enough definition can cause a company to adopt a short-sighted approach to its operations. “In our view,” says Lambert, “the supply chain is a network of companies that comprises your suppliers, their suppliers, customers of your company and their customers, if they exist.”