Course: Supply Chains in Practice: How Things Get to You

The manufacturing sector contributes £6.7tr to the global economy, represents 54% of UK exports and directly employs 2.6 million people. Based on the latest available data for 2013 the UK …

This week explores the questions we need to ask, with the information we need to process, to ensure that we are making good buying decisions. What needs to be purchased: …

Apple operates in a market supplying complex products having high, and sometimes unpredictable, fluctuations in demand and short lead times to bring new products to market. As such it requires …

When developing any strategy or approach one should consider the associated risks. Risk analyses considers the probability of a risk occurring and the impact that the risk would have should …

When selecting the supplier we need to have confidence that they will deliver our needs and comply with our values. When evaluating potential suppliers, whether consciously or subconsciously, we develop …

There are two fundamental motives behind the need to improve. The first may be as a result of performance having fallen below acceptable limits. Alternatively a business, either unilaterally or …

It is useful to have a view of what the whole supply market has to offer before making the final selection of supplier. The more unique and complex the specification …

In the above video Neil Carruthers, a strategic sourcing practitioner, talks about the supply market and relevant factors under consideration. Building on understanding the nature of value (what needs to …

It is important that when confirming the buying approach and moving on to conduct the final selection of, and negotiations with, suppliers that we have a full appreciation of total …

When purchasing any item there is a need to specify exactly what it is that is required. Whether consciously or subconsciously all purchases are made against a specification. Specifications are …

When purchasing, price alone does not necessarily constitute value. For example, in addition to the points made in the BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) article around inefficiencies in the …

Planning is the ‘glue’ that holds the supply chain together. It is the conductor that orchestrates the different supply chain players across the globe. There are some relatively simple principles …

Thank you for completing the second week of the course. I hope you found it informative and it has achieved its objective of starting to get you to think the …

Week 2 focused on the topic of the ‘global orchestra’’. Before immersing yourself in the domain of ‘shop til you drop’, take some time to consolidate your learning from last …

A supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Increasingly that weakness may not be a physical, but the point in the chain most vulnerable to a cyber-attack. …