Marisa Brown

Apqc Marisa Brown

Marisa Brown is senior principal research lead for supply chain management for APQC.

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Leverage Package Tracking to Improve Logistics Performance

The most common package tracking method is currently RFID, followed by IoT sensors; few organizations are currently using blockchain for package tracking.

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Think Holistically for More Cost-Effective Warehousing

To lower costs in a sustainable and impactful way, you’ll want to develop a multi-pronged solution that addresses people, process, technology and the physical environment of the warehouse.

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Workplace Mentoring is a Proven Practice in Supply Chain

Mentors can help send a powerful message to supply chain employees that whatever challenges they are facing, others have gone before them and have come out the other side successfully.

According to APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking data in supply chain planning, less than half of organizations support an omnichannel commerce strategy to a significant or very great extent.

Develop Supply Chain Maturity to Support Omnichannel Commerce Strategies

As organizations focus on supply chain responsiveness, omnichannel support is a key strategic concern.

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How to Improve First-Pass Quality Yield in Manufacturing

Achieving top-tier performance for finished-product first-pass quality yield for primary products takes careful planning, good supplier relationship management, well-documented processes and investments in the right technology.

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Robotic Process Automation for Procurement

RPA technology improves procurement efficiency for the organizations that invest in optimizing it.

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A Focus on Perfect Condition Rate Helps Drive Quality

There are plenty of steps a company can take to bring its perfect condition rate up, including collaborative work with suppliers, standardized packaging processes at warehouses and automation to reduce the opportunity for human error and track orders.

The extent of consideration of environmental factors in sourcing decisions.

Consider Environmental Factors in Sourcing Decisions

To survive and thrive, leading companies are thinking more broadly by considering strategic factors in sourcing decisions and continuing to invest in deeper supplier relationships.

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Metric of the Month: Reducing Warranty Costs as a Percentage of Sales

Through analyzing its Open Standards Benchmarking database, APQC found that bottom performers are at a massive disadvantage on this measure, with warranty costs five times higher than top performers.

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Metric of the Month: Spend Your Time Wisely in Sourcing to Build a Strong Supply Chain

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of suppliers to the success of the entire supply chain.

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Unfulfilled Sales Line Order Items: Causes and Solutions

Are you able to fulfill your customers’ orders with what they want when they want it? What will the impact to your company be if you cannot?

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Touchless Order Performance

When a customer places an order with your company, how many hands touch that order as it moves through the order-to-cash value chain?

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Metric of the Month: Examining Finished Goods Inventory Turns

With supply chains (and the global economy more broadly) upended by COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020, carefully managing inventory turnover, including understanding the benefits and risks, is vital. It has also become more difficult than ever.

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Net Promoter Score in Procurement

NPS can be a very effective tool for measuring internal procurement stakeholder loyalty and can help keep supplier relationships healthy as well.

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Metric of the Month: Trends in Structuring Supply Chain Analytics

Faced with vast and ever-growing amounts of data, the number of supply chain leaders that actively turn to analytics for decision making support is growing.

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10 Important Skills for Future-Ready Procurement Professionals

While no one can know what the future will bring, individuals who actively invest in building their skills in these key areas will be well-prepared come what may.

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Metric of the Month: Benchmarking the Number of Employees in Procurement

Given the critical role procurement plays in an organization, it’s important to keep an eye on the total number of full-time equivalent employees.

Percentage of Total Purchases Procured via Maverick Buying (Figure 1)

Metric of the Month: Maverick Purchasing Means Slower, More Costly Purchases

Maverick purchasing is not the time or cost saver that some people think it is, according to the latest APQC benchmarking data.

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Metric of the Month: Number of Supply Chain Planning Employees

The complex nature of managing supply chain activities, with its multitude of relationships and processes, requires planning—one of the key functional areas of supply chain management.