Most procurement teams still approach sourcing as if suppliers are waiting to be selected. They’re not. Strong North American suppliers are busy. They are choosing which customers to support, which RFQs to quote, and where to allocate limited engineering and production capacity. If your team…
Sometimes manufacturers need cost reductions sooner rather than later. The problem is that traditional strategic sourcing takes time. A typical project requires months of spend analysis, stakeholder alignment, supplier discovery, market testing, negotiations, and implementation planning. Then comes supplier validation, customer approvals, and resourcing. The…
Indirect purchasing is messy by nature. A direct materials buyer may focus on a handful of categories tied to a production process. An indirect buyer often manages dozens of unrelated categories at the same time. Marketing services. MRO. Fleet. Travel. IT. Janitorial. Temporary labor. Capital…
Most reshoring efforts stall before sourcing even starts. Teams jump into supplier searches with unclear requirements, inconsistent input from stakeholders, and a long list of “possible” suppliers. The result is predictable. Too many low-fit suppliers, slow response rates, and weeks of rework. Supplier discovery is…
Strategic sourcing gets overcomplicated. Most teams treat it like a long checklist with dozens of steps. That’s not the problem. The real issue is losing focus on what actually drives results. At its core, strategic sourcing is simple. It’s a project to improve cost, reduce supply risk, and align suppliers with your business…
More and more procurement teams are moving quickly to implement AI agents. The tools look capable, and the pressure to automate is real. But most failures come from a simple mistake – they choose the wrong AI execution model for the work. You have three options for applying…
Procurement teams are not struggling with access to AI. They are struggling with how to use it in a way that delivers real outcomes. These are the five patterns that when applied, start to change how work gets done. 1. Stop treating AI like a…
Many manufacturers say they want to reshore. They run the analysis, align on the strategy, and target Mexico or the U.S. as alternatives to Asia. Then progress slows. Most teams assume that if capable suppliers exist, they can find them quickly. They believe a web…
Capital projects carry high stakes. They consume large budgets. They affect capacity. They influence customer commitments. And once work starts, reversing a bad decision is expensive. Many capital project failures do not start in the field. They start in the contract. If you want fewer surprises, focus on three contract…
Most reshoring initiatives still start the same way – someone asks purchasing to “send out RFQs.” That instinct is understandable. RFQs feel rigorous. They create a paper trail. They signal control. They are also the fastest way to stall a rapid reshoring effort. RFQs were designed for a…