Recently, SIG had the pleasure of hosting ProcureAbility experts David Latten of Logitech, Chris Shaffer of EyeCare Partners and Adrian Dragomir of REI for the December CPO & Executive Virtual Series. It was a very engaging discussion with many thought-provoking takeaways. Let's get into it!
David Latten, Head of Procurement and Supplier Diversity & Equality at Logitech International, opened the day by discussing his organization's supplier diversity initiatives. Logitech refreshed the program in 2020 and has since expanded exponentially. For example, previously, Logitech had no Black-owned businesses within its supply chain. and have since vastly grown their vendor base to include more diverse suppliers. Logitech has a goal of having a world-class supplier diversity program in place by 2026. As he stated, " Logitech's core value is equality, and your suppliers should reflect that".
Adrian Dragomir, Head of Procurement at REI Inc., was next to present as he looked at how layoffs have affected his team, the challenges of balancing the new players in the company and how to interact with them. Adrian's approach is to let partners know that they exist to help you, not here to do your job. He then discussed how his team is now like "wolves on prey" after adjusting to the changes. Finally, he explained why it is important to take into consideration all aspects of a company when making decisions related to staffing and personnel changes. When it comes to talent, Adrian says the most important thing for his team members is to get the job done.
Chris Shaffer, Sr. Director Procurement, Facilities & Biomedical Support at EyeCare Partners, closed the discussion by outlining his team's goals for 2023. He listed them out as:
“The Grocery Code of Conduct is a significant step toward improving the resiliency and efficiency of the grocery supply chain. The primary objective is not to directly rebalance market power, regulate fair dealing, or set the level of retail fees, but rather to improve supply chain relationships through principles of predictability, transparency and fair dealing.” – DH Canada (January 17, 2023)
It wasn't that long ago that I wrote an article regarding the largest Canadian grocer – Loblaws, and their headline-grabbing stare-down price dispute with the global brand Frito-Lay. Here is the link to that post titled The Inflated Supply Chain: How To Navigate The Complexity Of Doing Business During A Period Of Rising Inflation.
The primary focus of the piece was – as the article’s title suggests, understanding the impact of inflation on supply chains. However, beyond the big picture story in which inflation takes center stage, there is an underlying theme. The theme I refer to is how buyer-supplier relationships affect inflation and other supply chain disruptions.
The buyer-supplier relationship's impact on inflation, not the other way around, is not a typo. As the age-old saying goes, it is not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters.
High-Level Overview
For the sake of expedience, the following high-level bullet points should provide a solid understanding of the Loblaws and Frito-Lay situation at the time and the government’s intervention to resolve the dispute. This overview will help you better understand why the government is introducing the grocery conduct code.
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Andy Peksa shares what he finds as the most important aspects of a supplier relationship and how they may be able to help you in your role.
Andy Peksa, Senior Buyer-Procurement Ops, T. Rowe Price
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Devendra Pathakshares how the focus on Category Management can help your organization grow with his very own with a step by step model.
Category management is one of the areas in which I should focus on my organization.
After the category management session, I understood the importance of category management. A category plan has two main aspects, category analysis, and category planning. However, before starting to work on any category plan, I would like to understand the category maturity. It will give me a real picture of the category and areas where we should be more focused. Once I study the category maturity in terms of spending and contracts, I will then work on the category plan.
Category analysis where I will study the following,
Global industry trends,
Spend analysis
Demand & supply dynamics
Porter’s five forces
Global Industry Trend- This is all about the latest trend in the category across all regions. What is the new commodity which has the highest demand globally and where we have less demand due to technological change or updates?
Spend Analysis- I can say that spend analysis is the heart of category management. It has a major role in developing a sourcing strategy. I will analyze category spending to understand the top 10 sub-categories then the top 10 suppliers and top 10 commodities where we have the highest spending in the category.
Devendra Pathak, Senior Procurement Analyst, CDK Global LLC
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Shridhar Kundaram shares his perspective on a four-step sourcing process that can help take your sourcing team to the next level.
Sourcing is a process that involves finding, selecting, evaluating, and managing suppliers for day-to-day and long-term purposes for goods and services needed in the organization/company. Sourcing will succeed if it has executive leadership support, collaboration with stakeholders, robust control of spending and policies, automation, and an approach clearly defined for categories. Sourcing involves four significant steps Assess, Analyze, Execute and Evaluate.
Shridhar Kundaram, Senior Analyst, CDK Global India Pvt Ltd.
SIG University Certified Third-Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) program graduate Kyle Smith discusses the benefits of a strong third-party risk management team and what it can do for your organization.
SIG University Certified Intelligent Automation Professional (CIAP) program graduate Josh Millman discusses how automation processes have helped his organization and what they can do for yours.
Josh Millman, a Jr. Salesforce Administrator, Sourcing Industry Group
SIG University Certified Third-Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) program graduate Jonathan Purdon discusses the vital aspects to add to your risk management framework and the best practices for creating a risk culture.
Jonathan Purdon, Sr. Business Analyst, ATB Financial
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Larry Trawick shares how excellent communication is vital in ensuring success and how important it is to incorporate effective change into your sourcing practices.
Larry Trawick, Senior Sourcing Analyst, Polaris Industries
Preparing for the challenges on the horizon with a host of resources to get a jump start on 2023!
A Flexible (and Fast!) Way to Get Certified Now
Did you miss our 2022 open cohort start dates? We have fast-track and self-paced options for all programs if open cohort semester timings do not work for your schedule! Have a large group from your organization interested in taking the program together? We also offer closed cohorts for groups of 20 or more that can start when it is best suitable for your team, and volume discounts are available!
Join Dylan Alperin, Head of Professional Services, Keelvar and Magnus Bergfors, Director of Product Marketing, Keelvar as they discuss the rise of the automation revolution and CPO insights and 2023 priorities Keelvar’s 2023 Voices of Sourcing Survey.
Supplier.io’s 5th State of Supplier Diversity Report revealed big changes in the primary drivers of supplier diversity. More and more companies see programs as a core component of their company culture, and executive and board support is at an all-time high.
 (1).png?uAEWtjpe1AOzvAOVXk6I1KHX1_KaHLgS= "BREAKING NEWS: Grocery conduct code coming in 2023?")
_15.png?z1QdIPT8G29IAzw2vYgbnuu8Tdo5n7NP= "What is Important For Me In a Supplier Relationship")
_20.png?6TFqoM0wtzIXwEEDx8aDCzNJOJmek2gN= "A Focus on The Category Management Plan")
 (1)_2.png?wxCaMUA_PdAE3bLigKFpDyQS_N1FvLgR= "Opportunity Assessment and Sourcing Project Flow")
 (1)_4.png?woiBeOtFRNODFvb2a722jfSCES2aW6OJ= "Expanding Your Own Third-Party Risk Team")
 (1)_2.png?ltysGtvyfDsbVV_bn7iD3Lx3K_v1KLS8= "Implementing Automation in Your Own Business")
_2.png?A5GbEYxeczjGF6x3izgE2sDUKILzFzrM= "Crucial Aspects for Building your Third-Party Risk Team")
 (1)_3.png?2mbIKbiyn1giV9vV1U33gd9Ztn3KaqeV= "Sourcing Change Management")
 (1).png?ZkUSeAPoMp6ByWsuvcmzjepeeFra4zPF= "This Month at SIG – January 2023")
Recap of February CPO & Executive Virtual Series
Recently, SIG had the pleasure of hosting ProcureAbility experts David Latten of Logitech, Chris Shaffer of EyeCare Partners and Adrian Dragomir of REI for the December CPO & Executive Virtual Series. It was a very engaging discussion with many thought-provoking takeaways. Let's get into it!
David Latten, Head of Procurement and Supplier Diversity & Equality at Logitech International, opened the day by discussing his organization's supplier diversity initiatives. Logitech refreshed the program in 2020 and has since expanded exponentially. For example, previously, Logitech had no Black-owned businesses within its supply chain. and have since vastly grown their vendor base to include more diverse suppliers. Logitech has a goal of having a world-class supplier diversity program in place by 2026. As he stated, " Logitech's core value is equality, and your suppliers should reflect that".
Adrian Dragomir, Head of Procurement at REI Inc., was next to present as he looked at how layoffs have affected his team, the challenges of balancing the new players in the company and how to interact with them. Adrian's approach is to let partners know that they exist to help you, not here to do your job. He then discussed how his team is now like "wolves on prey" after adjusting to the changes. Finally, he explained why it is important to take into consideration all aspects of a company when making decisions related to staffing and personnel changes. When it comes to talent, Adrian says the most important thing for his team members is to get the job done.
Chris Shaffer, Sr. Director Procurement, Facilities & Biomedical Support at EyeCare Partners, closed the discussion by outlining his team's goals for 2023. He listed them out as: