What’s the 411 on “a no brainer” project for ‘09 and maybe even getting a fat bonus? “The skinny” can make heroes out of those who optimize Maintenance, Repair, and Operations inventory and deliver supply chain performance. It’s more than slang and don’t confuse it with “less inventory”. Skinny delivers “the right inventory”. It dynamically adjusts MRO to meet current performance needs. When fuel and commodity prices were soaring, the skinny helped companies drive maximum production capacity. So far “thin is in” for 2009. The focus has shifted to greater emphasis on squeezing costs out of labor, inventory, purchasing, and expediting, while maintaining capacity efficiency. With as much as 15% of procurement spend and 75% of purchasing requisitions tied up in MRO, “the skinny” can equate to measurable benefits and maybe even that fat bonus as well. Join IHS’ Jim Crouch to learn how.

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The Importer Security Filing (ISF) regulation, also known as 10+2, is a U.S. Customs & Border Protection rule designed to help the Department of Homeland Security better assess and identify high-risk shipments entering the U.S. Many importers believe that their 3PL or agent will ensure their company is complying, but the truth is that the importer could be on the hook for non-compliance. Join industry expert Kurt Cavano, chairman and CEO of TradeCard, as we discuss the impact of 10+2, approaches to meeting the challenges of the regulation, and dispel the common myths about 10+2 compliance.

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The “flat world” and current economic conditions present many new challenges to today’s procurement and supply management organizations. It’s more critical than ever that supply management executives ensure that their staffs have the right mix of skills to overcome these challenges. In this podcast, industry observer Charles Dominick, SPSM, president of Next Level Purchasing, shares strategies for keeping your own skills up to date and building a successful supply management team.

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Indirect spend management is the last frontier of supply chain management. Procurement professionals are finding “people are not pencils” and the same strategies used to source static commodities are not sufficient to source human capital. The nuances of human resource management require a unique set of supply chain management tools and expertise. How important is the interplay between a solution’s Vendor Management System (VMS) software and the expertise of the managed services provider (MSP) to overall success? What are the key cost drivers that can yield significant savings? In this podcast, Supply & Demand Chain Executive editor Andrew Reese interviews ProcureStaff Vice President, Ben Walker who reveals some of the critical factors required to operate a successful services procurement program.

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Delivering measurable results. Increasing spend visibility. Extending functional and geographical coverage for spend management. These are just a few of the challenges facing procurement managers and executives in the year ahead. In this podcast, spend management industry veteran Hari Candadai with Ariba discusses the results of recent research into the top-of-mind priorities among procurement professionals around the globe. Learn about best-in-class approaches to demonstrating the impact of spend management to corporate leadership, increasing user adoption, leveraging spend data and more.

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Companies are using “perfect order” to measure supply chain performance and order management cycle effectiveness. But what is a “perfect order,” how do you measure it, and how do you achieve it? In this podcast, Ray Wang, principal analyst with Forrester Research, discusses his recent study on the roadmap to the perfect order, covering the benefits and challenges of meeting the promise of the perfect order, as well as the role of technology in achieving the perfect order.

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Long left to the goodwill and trustworthiness of individual employees, and varying levels of oversight by supervisors and travel managers, T&E remains a bastion of maverick spending. But a new breed of solutions has emerged that is helping to drive change. Learn more about how end-to-end spend management solutions are changing the face of travel procurement in this conversation with travel procurement guru Charles Brossman.

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