The construction industry encompasses many unique challenges, particularly in sourcing materials for their complex projects. From building a single custom home to being responsible for an extensive housing development or a towering skyscraper, much of the success (and the profitability) of a construction project rests on the shoulders of the team responsible for sourcing the materials for its projects.
Automotive sourcing strategy is complicated, and few supply chains are as complex. Auto manufacturing embodies globalization, with assembly plants located across the world and many of them working on a just-in-time basis.
This month, the Arkestro team was fortunate enough to attend SSON, the World’s Largest Shared Service and Outsourcing Network. During a...
There was a time when a company’s procurement function was largely left out of the loop and taken for granted. Once other business units had made the meaningful decisions, then it was up to the sourcing team to look after the mundane tasks of contacting suppliers and signing contracts.
Sourcing professionals of all categories face a consistently challenging and ever-changing work environment, but those in the pharmaceutical industry deal with particularly demanding circumstances. The World Health Organization (WHO) summed up the complexity in a 1999 guide that remains accurate today:
In 2005, Harvard Business Review published “Strategic Sourcing: From Periphery to the Core.” The article was an overview of the changing dynamic in an increasingly global world, where companies were moving away from the traditional business model of vertical integration. The authors wrote:
Happy International Day of Friendship! As a holiday officially recognized by the United Nations, the idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed in 1958 by Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Paraguay. Out of this meeting of friends, the World Friendship Crusade was born. World Friendship Crusade is a foundation that promotes friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of race, color, or religion. Since then, July 30th has been faithfully observed yearly as Friendship Day, not only in Paraguay, but across several other countries as well.
There are many buzzwords regularly tossed around in this age of tech-based startups and digital transformation. Two such phrases are “Automation” and “Artificial Intelligence” (AI). It’s common to mix up the two, lump them together, or otherwise muddy the water of what is already a complex relationship between the terms. You’ve heard it, you think (or know) you need it, but you may not fully understand it. The great news? We’ve all been there.
