In This ISSUE:

Government Shutdown Exacerbates Procurement’s Troubles Do YOU know….Category or Commodity? Kimberly-Clark's Epic Demand-Driven Journey Five Reasons Why Demand Is So Great for 'Big Box' Distribution Space Are we There Yet? Enterprise Risk Management Program Maritime Piracy Falls to Lowest Level in 7 Years, Reports IMB

And in every issue:

Industry Snap Shot St. Louis in the News Upcoming Events New Members!

Save the Date!

Have lunch with ISM – St. Louis! Tue, Nov 26, 2013

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Actively Managing Leverage

Registration is OPEN

Save your seat today! www. ismstlouis.org.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

A frustrated manager complained that every time he provided training, the now highly skilled employee was snatched up by a competitor: "The only thing worse than training people and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Zig Ziglar

As we go forward into the New Year Director of Education Dawn Fadler, CPSM and Director of Professional Development Paula Matousek work diligently to develop and plan seminars and speakers based on feedback from our membership. Are there specific skill sets you would like us to concentrate on or educational events that you feel would greatly benefit the membership at large?

As many need to budget expenses for the New Year please let us know your preferences so that we can get the training set up in advance. Feel free to contact the above or anyone on the board.

We look forward to seeing you at the November 26th Lunch meeting. Don’t forget it is “Bring your Boss to Lunch Day”! Simply register your boss as a guest (at no charge).

Patrick Williamson

Government Shutdown Exacerbates Procurement’s Troubles

By Raj Sharma and Jason Busch With the government shutting its doors for the first time since 1995, it will only be a matter of days before the effects are felt beyond government agencies, rippling throughout the supply chain and the economy. Shutdowns are rare events, unplanned-for calamities that cause significant disruption to programs and government operations. As of late, whether it is a shutdown or a continuing resolution—where only a few months are funded at a time—or a sequester, the federal government has been operating in a perpetual state of uncertainty. That uncertainty has real costs not just for government but also for suppliers. But just as procurement is often not considered in larger policy matters, the ramifications of a shutdown on the supply chain are also often ignored. There are many ways a shutdown exacerbates existing issues in public sector procurement, and there are lessons to be learned from each of these. Strategic programs in limbo

Any type of shutdown in this environment is completely orthogonal to effective procurement practice. The uncertainty prevents agencies from planning or executing on a “spending” plan, meaning commitments to suppliers can not be met or programs such as strategic sourcing are delayed. Lesson: Often procurement at the federal level is criticized for being too tactical—focused too much on individual purchases—and not forming long-term purchasing strategies. But with all of these uncertainties, how can Congress expect agencies to plan more than a few months out? Not only does this limit the ultimate leverage that agencies and departments have with suppliers (to enable them to plan and budget effectively as well), it also limits the ability to truly partner with suppliers, which has numerous ramifications. Reduced savings and increased costs

Demand-driven disruptions, through events such as a shutdown, can lead to reduced savings and added costs for buying organizations based on pricing schedules that may have committed specific volume levels and order frequencies. In addition, suppliers may force organizations to make up for disruptions by requiring different terms in the future (e.g., container-load quantity vs. pallet or individual single SKUs) to achieve pricing targets. Lesson: In other words, as procurement professionals try to mature their processes for strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management, the waffling caused by shutdowns and crisis budgeting hampers those efforts. Delayed investments and supply chain effects

Costs of shutdowns, short-term budgets and other uncertainties also have broader ramifications on the supply chain and the economy. Businesses without certain revenues delay hiring or making other capital investments, opting instead for temporary hires or overtime. In cases where investments have already been made, capacity also go unutilized, increasing overall costs for suppliers, costs that are ultimately borne by the government.

Budget uncertainties also have impacts that go beyond single suppliers, impacting multiple tiers (tier one, tier two, tier three) of the supply chain where disruptions can create magnifier effects for suppliers. We must not forget that it is these suppliers–who also are most likely to be small and diverse businesses–which are the most vulnerable of all to supply chain shocks. Unlike larger suppliers, they do not have the cash on hand to withstand significant shocks from the norm. Lesson: Fear of incurring extra costs for working with the federal government—already a lower-margin enterprise—has a cooling effect on contractors, who may be less interested in doing business with the government if they gauge there’s too much risk. And if one of the goals of public procurement is to help execute the mission of government—including working with diverse businesses—then a government shuttering is also shutting its doors on small, diverse businesses, and on one of the most visible ways procurement brings value to taxpayers, by helping creating new enterprise and jobs for tomorrow. The Final Word

In operations research courses in college and business school, students often learn to play the “beer game” the entire purpose of which is to show that achieving a perfect order (e.g., just enough inventory on-hand but not too much) is virtually impossible, because demand signals are ultimately not relayed correctly to different suppliers, or adjusted in real-time. As anyone who has played the beer game learns, in the case of restarting or accelerating a supply chain after a period without orders (or reduced orders), lower-tier suppliers are likely to be the ones that become the bottlenecks to steady-state production and supply for the ultimate buyer. Someone is always left without the inventory they need–or with too much inventory in the channel.

Do YOU know….Category or Commodity?

By Kent Stuart

One of the most frustrating issues that faces many procurement professionals is how to define a category management strategy. The most frustrating thing as a consultant is that too often a commodity is mistaken for a category. Here’s the difference: A commodity is a single product or service. You can achieve simple economies of scale buy buying commodities in bulk or otherwise aggregating your spend. A category is a business outcome. You drive value in a category by reviewing the whole value chain that delivers that outcome. Here’s an example: If you aggregate all the spend in cleaning offices and other accommodation for your company and procure this as a single contract that’s commodity management. If you said that cleaning is part of the category that is ‘providing safe, efficient and fit for purpose accommodation’, then it’s part of the accommodation category. You wouldn’t just aggregate cleaning but look at the whole value chain and all the inputs that deliver the business outcome of accommodation. So what? Commodity management and spend aggregation is good practice and will delivery initial savings but once you’ve done this, there is nowhere else to go. You can only get so far by driving down unit prices. By taking a category approach, you can influence a much broader set of cost drivers that will enable you to achieve ongoing efficiencies and savings. In addition, you will be able to influence service levels and consumption behaviour which will deliver even more savings! So next time someone tells you they have a category strategy for cleaning or stationary, make sure you’re not leaving savings on the table.

Kimberly-Clark's Epic Demand-Driven Journey

By: Robert J. Bowman

"Frankly, we thought we were a lot better than we were." Could those be the scariest words in business? They come from Rick Sather, vice president of customer supply chain with consumer-products giant Kimberly-Clark Corp. And they suggest why some companies might not want to know the ugly truth about how they’re really serving – or not serving – the customer. Not so with Kimberly-Clark. Over the past decade, the company has been engaged in an aggressive effort to uncover all of the shortcomings in its supply chain. The goal: to become truly demand-driven. Sather sketched out Kimberly-Clark’s journey at the recent Global Summit of Supply Chain Insights in Scottsdale, Ariz. Guiding the organization, he said, was a set of classic lean principles. It starts with manufacturing. Like many consumer-goods makers, Kimberly Clark has a lot of big machines. Classic operations theory calls for maximizing one’s investment in equipment by running at full capacity, for as long as possible. Whatever you do, don’t stop short to turn out small, specialized batches of product. Which is precisely what Kimberly-Clark set out to do. Because the company exists in a mature industry, it needs constantly to be innovating its product line. The result is a raft of additional SKUs, of various colors, shapes and materials. To meet the demand targets for new products, manufacturing must become a lot more flexible. That’s a cornerstone of best practices in the automotive industry, pioneered by the Toyota Production System. At the same time, Kimberly-Clark had to confront the issue of quality. In a lean regime, you can’t hide. All problems at the manufacturing stage are revealed. As Sather said, “We had benchmarked ourselves in a way that made us think we were really a good manufacturer.” The company’s lean initiative told another story. Possibly Kimberly-Clark’s biggest breakthrough was realizing the importance of customer engagement. After all, said Sather, “Having a demand-driven journey is meaningless without outcomes. It’s got to be about business results.” Of course, it’s one thing to talk about crafting top-line goals for supply-chain performance. It’s quite another to implement them throughout the organization. One key, said Sather, lay in the concept of “shelf-back replenishment”: starting with actual sales, then making sure that each preceding link in the chain is designed to support them. When it comes to balancing out inventory at multiple retail locations, Kimberly-Clark appears to be taking a leaf from the apparel industry’s book. Take the case of a promotion that’s centered on a particular SKU. Once the event is launched, there’s likely to be too much inventory in some stores, and big stockouts in others. Kimberly-Clark has invested in systems that scrutinize retailer data, allowing it to respond to real-world purchasing patterns much more quickly than before. Big-box stores dominate the retail world today, but Kimberly-Clark also works with small-format merchandisers to reduce stockouts and obsolete product. Sather cited one customer who, based on a single SKU, benefited to the tune of millions of dollars from the new program. The journey is far from over. Kimberly-Clark is employing a new set of data analytics to capture activity at point of sale. It links directly to the data streams of approximately 18 major retailers, broken down by date, store location and individual SKU. Still, like nearly every other consumer-products supplier, the company lacks a complete understanding of demand. “The bullwhip effect is alive and well,” Sather said, referring to the phenomenon whereby a series of small forecasting errors end up having a devastating impact on inventory accuracy. “We haven’t gotten past the ability to collaborate on

demand to the point where we can match up demand and the flow of goods.” The company is less shy today about encouraging customer behavior that results in that degree of alignment. Its newfound candor also extends to the greater use of customer segmentation, based on rigorous cost-to-serve modeling. Every customer and SKU is being examined for its true cost and benefit to the manufacturer. “It’s on our road map, right now – to really get serious about it,” Sather said. Back to that equipment-utilization problem at the plant. Sather said it was a question of realigning metrics to allow for smaller production runs. Previously, the term “over-production” wasn’t even in Kimberly-Clark’s vocabulary. “Making more,” he said, “was always better.” Today, the company still tracks its cost per unit at the plant, “but we just look at it through a different lens.” Over the years, it has managed to reduce cost and waste by “many percentages,” with four times the number of equipment changeovers. U.S. inventory has reportedly has been cut by about $10m. And what about sales, the 800-pound gorilla in so many organizations? How does one convince that function to align its metrics to serve the needs of the entire supply chain? To address the issue of sales forecast bias, Kimberly-Clark drew on the concept of customer engagement, with Sather’s team sitting at the table with sales executives. With access to metrics such as total inventory levels, they were able to put a stop to over-ordering. “That’s a totally different view, versus five to 10 years ago,” Sather said. “We’re very focused on the outcomes we’re trying to deliver.” Judging from results to date, Kimberly-Clark’s journey toward becoming a demand-driven supplier has been a clear success. The program has brought “multi-millions to our top line,” said Sather. The cost of obsolescence has plunged. And the company is “honing in” on aggressive goals for net sales, margin and cash. Organizational change is always a challenge. The key to success is starting out slowly. “My challenge to my team was, find me small experiments where I can invest a little and see what kind of outcomes I can get,” Sather said. “If it’s proven out based on real results, it’s not a hard-sell story.”

Five Reasons Why Demand Is So Great for 'Big Box' Distribution Space

By: Jones Lang LaSalle

Demand for U.S. industrial distribution centers, larger than 300,000 square feet, is high and rising, according to real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle's first "Big Box Velocity Index". Improving economic conditions, the continuing growth of e-commerce and a deep bench of tenants seeking space have all created this highly competitive fight for industrial and warehousing space. As a result, there is 96.7 million square feet of industrial construction under way, with nearly half speculative, with an average building size of 360,000 square feet. The JLL Big Box Outlook Report featuring the Velocity Index cites five key trends that are shaping the 2013 U.S. Big Box Industrial Market – and creating markets that are winners and losers. WHO: At the top of the list of industries fueling demand are retail, especially e-commerce retail players, and the logistics and distribution and manufacturing sectors. However, retail (traditional retailers through consumer non-durables) accounts for more than one third of total demand with most concentrated in the Northeast – particularly New Jersey and Philadelphia.

“With e-commerce sales expected to more than double over the next four years, we anticipate increasing demand for highly specialized facilities,” said JLL's Industrial President Craig Meyer. “We are seeing a number of major retailers in the market looking for mega-fulfillment centers more than two million square feet near large population centers – especially in the major logistics markets in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, Atlanta, Chicago and of course, the Inland Empire.” WHAT: A resurgence in activity from distribution space users has manifested in rising demand in two primary categories: the 250,000- to 499,999-square-foot range, and in facilities of more than one million square feet. Together these two categories comprise more than half of the requirements from tenants in the marketplace.

WHEN: There have been 14 consecutive quarters of positive net absorption, bringing vacancy rates down. Construction activity began to increase during the first half of 2012 and much of this stemmed from committals prior to groundbreakings. More speculative development is currently under way. WHERE: Traditional distribution corridors are showing strong market conditions; however, the Northeast is seeing the majority of activity. Five of the top six industries with space needs are looking in this region with many in the market for spaces in excess of one million square feet. In the Midwest, however, tenant requirements (on a square footage basis) are down by 26 percent owing to robust leasing activity in quarters past. “The Northeast is home to 55 million people, and this is appealing to retail distributors that want access to a lucrative market that a mega population offers: an expansive consumer base and an existing, intricate logistics infrastructure,” said Aaron Ashburn, director of research, JLL Americas Industrial & Retail. “Larger blocks of functional space are also more readily available here than in the neighboring Midwest, meaning tenants in New Jersey have more choice as opposed to facing competition for fewer large space options in Chicago.” 5) WHY: “It’s no surprise that the retail sector comprises more than a third of our growth,” observes Meyer. “The demand from e-commerce is shaping the market more than ever before, and is influencing the requirements of both users and the institutional investors who make speculative construction possible.” Source: Jones Lang LaSalle

Maritime Piracy Falls to Lowest Level in 7 Years, Reports IMB

By Marex

The International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed that piracy on the world’s seas is at its lowest third-quarter level since 2006, but warns of the threat of continuing violent attacks off the East and West coasts of Africa.

Photo: This map shows all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre during 2013. If exact coordinates are not provided, estimated positions are shown based on information provided.

The latest IMB Piracy Report shows 188 piracy incidents in the first nine months of 2013, down from 233 for the same period last year. Hostage-taking has also fallen markedly, with 266 people taken hostage this year, compared with 458 in the first three quarters of 2012. In the first nine months of 2013, IMB’s global figures show pirates hijacked 10 vessels, fired at 17, and boarded 140. A further 21 attacks were thwarted. In total 266 crew were taken hostage and 34 kidnapped. One seafarer was killed, twenty were injured, and one is reported missing. IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan urged caution: “Although the number of attacks is down overall, the threat of attacks remains, particularly in the waters off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea. It is vital that ship masters continue to be vigilant as they transit these waters.”

Attacks in seas around Somalia continued to fall dramatically, with just 10 incidents attributed to Somali pirates this year, down from 70 in the same nine months of 2012. IMB attributes this improvement to the actions of naval forces engaged in anti-piracy operations, security teams on board vessels, ships complying with the industry’s best management practices, and the stabilizing influence of the Central Government of Somalia. “The vital role of the navies off the coast of Somalia should not be underestimated. Their presence ensures that pirates do not operate with the impunity they did before,” said Captain Mukundan. As monsoons subside in NW Indian Ocean the weather will become more conducive for small pirate skiffs to operate again. As of 30 September 2013, suspected Somali pirates held two vessels for ransom with 15 crewmembers on board. In addition, 49 kidnapped crewmembers are held on land, 37 of whom have been held for over two years. With fewer attacks off Somalia, attention has moved to the Gulf of Guinea, a hot spot for violent piracy and ship hijacking for many years. The region recorded more than 40 piracy attacks in the first three quarters of 2013, with 132 crew taken hostage and seven vessels hijacked – six tankers and an offshore supply vessel. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for all crew kidnappings worldwide, 32 of them off Nigeria, and two off Togo. Nigeria, the main source of piracy in the region, accounted for 29 piracy incidents, including two hijackings, 11 ships boarded, 13 vessels fired upon and three attempted attacks. Pirates, often heavily armed and violent, are targeting vessels and their crews along the coast, rivers, anchorages, ports and surrounding waters. In many cases, they ransack the vessels and steal the cargo, usually gas oil. Coordinated patrols by Benin and Nigerian Authorities have helped reduce attacks in parts of the Gulf of Guinea. However, IMB warns that pirates move around the region if left unchecked, citing the hijacking of a tanker off Port Gentil, Gabon in July 2013, by suspected Nigerian pirates. Elsewhere in the world, one area of rising armed robbery attacks is Indonesia. Here, IMB recorded 68 low-level attacks to vessels, nearly all at anchor. Robbers boarding the vessels were usually armed with knives or machetes. Detailing the most attacked anchorages in its piracy report. IMB calls for increased patrols, and warns ships to stay alert in these waters.

Are we there yet?

By Betty Kildow

Incorporating supply chain risk management in a comprehensive enterprise risk management program is now well ac-accepted by most companies and organizations as a critical business requirement. With concerns fueled by an ongoing series of major disasters over recent years, such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, flooding in Thailand; the fire at a Bangladesh factory that killed more than 100 garment workers; and new strict reporting requirements on the use of conflict minerals, managing supply risk continues to be a hot topic. Companies have made impressive strides as they have developed and implemented programs that evolve the management of supply chain risk from a reactive approach to a comprehensive, proactive approach to mitigating and managing supply network risk. For some this has required significant investments to improve and expand existing continuity programs. For others, it has meant starting from scratch to address supply chain risk. Whatever the starting point, questions are often asked regarding a continuity program; “Are we there yet?” What separates the most mature programs from the rest? We can begin by asking some questions based on accepted benchmarks. What is the level of executive involvement and support? Is supply chain continuity integrated with other enterprise risk management/continuity programs? How often is the program reviewed, tested, exercised and updated? A rudimentary assessment of a supply chain risk/continuity management program can be performed by evaluating how true the following statements are for the organization:

Supply chain business units participate in the company’s business continuity/risk management program and are fully represented at the business continuity planning table.

Resources, people skills and hours and financial, are made available to adequately support supply chain continuity/risk management programs.

Supply chain continuity/risk management responsibilities are included in job descriptions, and business continuity/risk management knowledge and experience are taken into account when hiring and promoting.

Supply chain practitioners are provided with the necessary business continuity training and participate in exercises and tests.

Selection of all suppliers, outsourcing companies, and contractors – upstream and downstream - includes consider-ation of business continuity/risk management capabilities.

The company ensures that all suppliers are made aware of its continuity requirements and expectations. Post-contract, suppliers are monitored for “red flags” and negative changes in risk factors such as their financial

stability. A process is in place to monitor the horizon for new risks and threats and thus avoid addressing only those supply

chain disruptions that have occurred in the past. There is a cyber-security awareness program that includes securing supply chain internal data and information

systems and collaborating with third parties who provide products and services to the company. The company has in place a trained team, plans, strategies, and resources to respond when there is a disaster or

significant supply chain disruption.

While using this checklist will provide an indication of the maturity level of your organization’s supply chain continuity program, gauge its progress, and identify areas for improvement, it is not by any means a replacement for a comprehensive assessment. To fully evaluate how closely the program aligns with organizational objectives, regulatory requirements, and certification standards requires a comprehensive review or an audit. Regardless of the current level of program maturity, making our supply chains risk resilient must always be a work in progress. Once the initial continuity planning objectives have been achieved, there needs to be a cyclical process of continuous improvement to ensure that the needs and requirements of the organization, its customers, and other stakeholders are met.

In a SNAP SHOT

By Paige Siplon

October is also what many in the logistics industry refer to as near the end of "peak season" in preparation for the holidays. So, included below are some selected encouraging statistics and a few about the upcoming season of shopping that will soon be upon us: Christmas is only 70 Days from now! And if you forget, remind yourself at: www.xmasclock.com Retailers are expected to hire around 780,000 seasonal workers this holiday season. Here is what a few notables are

planning: Amazon.com, the world's largest e-commerce company, will hire 70,000 full-time seasonal workers

in the U.S. to meet holiday order demand, a 40% increase over last year. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is hiring 55,000 seasonal workers and adding another 70,000

part-time and full-time workers. Other retailers like Macy's (+83,000 hires), Target (+70,000 hires), and Kohl's (+50,000 hires) have

also announced plans for adding seasonal workers for the holidays. (Source: shop.org, NRF) This year, online holiday sales are projected to rise 15% over last year to as much as $82 billion. Total holiday sales will

experience an estimated 3.9% growth to $602.1 billion. (Source: shop.org, NRF) Net absorption of warehousing space in the US during Q2 2013 totaled nearly +42 million square feet. The Port of Brunswick is now the 3rd busiest port in the U.S. for total roll-on/roll-off cargo, and the #1 in the Nation

for new automobile imports, the Port of NY/NJ is now 2nd.

St. Louis in the News! American Railcar Industries CEO resigns

By James Cowan American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARI) officials announced today that President and CEO James Cowan resigned Wednesday to pursue other interests. The company’s board appointed Jeffrey Hollister as president and interim CEO. Hollister, 45, has been with ARI since 2005 in various senior financial and operations posts. He most recently has overseen ARI’s railcar manufacturing group, including its Marmaduke and Paragould, Ark., railcar assembly plants and component/sub-assembly plants. In his new role, Hollister will receive a base salary at an annualized rate of $275,000 and is eligible to receive a target bonus of 80 percent of his base as part of ARI’s 2013 management incentive plan, according to a regulatory filing. Cowan, 55, joined ARI in December 2005 and served as executive vice president and chief operating officer until he was appointed president and CEO in April 2009. He previously had served for several years as president and chief operating officer of Maverick Tube Corp., which was one of St. Louis’ largest publicly held companies until its 2006 sale to Belgium-based Tenaris. American Railcar Industries (Nasdaq: ARII) reported second-quarter net earnings of $23.6 million, up 77 percent from the prior-year quarter, on total revenue of $159.4 million. The company posted record net income of $63.8 million in 2012. In addition to manufacturing hopper and tank railcars, St. Charles-based American Railcar Industries leases, repairs and refurbishes railcars; provides fleet management services; and designs and manufactures railcar components. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is the company's chairman and majority owner.

Getting to Know the Membership

Paula J. Matousek

Enterprise Holdings and ISM-St. Louis, Director of Professional Development

ISM-St. Louis: Tell us about your role at Enterprise. Paula: My title is Telecom Vendor Manager – I have a team that handles all the billing for telecom (about $70M each month). When I came in a little over a year ago we had all paper invoices and few contracts in place. In this time I have completed close to 200

contracts, NDAs and COIs as well as moving all our invoices onto electronic billing (can you tell I have a great team!). I also conduct the stewardship meetings with our vendors (we currently have over 60+ vendors in the Telecom space). A recent development is that this will now include Canada and Europe!

ISM-St. Louis: What industries have you been in and how did you get to where you are today? Paula: I have worked in the financial industry (MasterCard 17+ years), the Biotech industry (Monsanto 5 years), Pharmaceutical/PBM Industry (Express-Scripts 5 years) and now the transportation industry here at Enterprise. I started each company in the purchasing/Sourcing or Vendor Management department and each company I had numerous roles. And I attribute that to 1) always saying “yes” to new opportunities and/or 2) volunteering to do something new (this can also mean taking on a non-popular project).

ISM-St. Louis: What is life like outside of work and ISM? Paula: Well – that is complicated. My husband Jerry and I have a 10 year old son Jack. He loves sports and he is into Football, Basketball and Baseball. When I am not at his games or practices, I like to garden, cook, and travel. I also like to spend time with my friends and do fun projects around the house. And surprisingly – I do get this all in (and more!).

ISM-St. Louis: What is one thing that is unusual / interesting about you or something that others wouldn’t suspect of you? Paula: Too many to name – but I will tell you that I have been to all 50 states and most of the National Parks. My favorite Store is Home Depot - does that count as interesting or unusual? I would tell you that Melissa Orlando thinks I know everyone in St Louis.

ISM-St. Louis: What advice would you give those just entering Supply Chain? Paula: Learn the entire process – specifically the operational side and the invoicing/billing. I am amazed at the lack of visibility and that the ordering groups never see their invoices – in the Telecom world, the invoice sometimes triggers the reminder that services are no longer in use or no longer needed. So in short, I would get LEAN certified. What I need to add to this is that you need to listen to your internal client on how to help solve their problems, so understand what they need – add value!

ISM-St. Louis: You have volunteered with ISM-St. Louis for some time now, what has been the greatest return for your time invested? Paula: Interestingly enough, it is a new challenge for me to coordinate speakers for our group. What I use to think was such an easy and fun activity is a lot harder than it appears. As we all know, life happens, so I have to always be prepared for a backup. Just like this October meeting I had it all set, and 2 weeks before the date, he informed me he accepted a new job and was not able to come to our meeting - so it was a scramble to find Cindy Wessel to speak at the last minute and I am happy she was able to accommodate our schedule. I am just really grateful that our original speaker remembered to tell me!

WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS

Sheri Wallis Corp Purchasing Manager Jennifer Verhoff Sr. Sourcing Manager Express Scripts Randy Hardesty Material Manager Sunnen Products

Don’t Forget……………..

Actively Managing Leverage

Andrew Ozlowski

ClearEdge Partners

Tue, Nov 26, 2013 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM Greenbriar Hills Country Club

The big IT Suppliers use value-based pricing systems and highly disciplined sales strategies to maximize their leverage and pricing over customers. The challenge for IT consumers is in matching up with heavily entrenched suppliers in this Pricing Game. Experience shows that starting early, acting as one team and focusing on leverage is the only way for clients to maintain competitive pricing even with deeply embedded incumbent suppliers. In this session, attendees will explore how and why buyers must actively create, manage and defend their Plan Bs throughout the buying cycle to capture the most value on their IT spending. This is not something that can be achieved at the negotiating table. Andrew Ozlowski came to ClearEdge Partners as a Managing Director in the Midwest after spending the previous 18+ years in business development, sales and leadership roles within enterprise software and IT consulting services industry. Andrew brings specific expertise to the ClearEdge Practice teams for application software, business intelligence solutions and consulting services drawing from his experience at SAP, Kronos and Computer Associates. He leverages his extensive background and training in IT vendor sales strategies, complex license agreements, IT service engagements and procurement processes in order to help clients level the playing field with their strategic IT suppliers and maximize solution value. Andrew has a B.S. in Organizational Leadership from Purdue University where he was also an intercollegiate athlete, letterman and youth mentor.

You earn 1 hour for general meeting

And you will get hours for participation on the board

Save the Dates!

Dates for the CPSM, CPSM Bridge, and the CPSD classes have been set. Pat Woods will be the instructor and

classes held at Monsanto. Below is the schedule:

Thursday, January 30th - CPSM Module 1 Thursday, March 27th – CPSM Module 2 Friday, March 28th- CPSD Thursday, May 29th - CPSM Module 3 Friday, May 30th – CPSM Bridge

Patrick S. Woods, CPSM, CPSD, C.P.M., CPIM – Founder and President

For the past 29 years, Patrick S. Woods has had the phenomenal opportunity to work with over 270 companies in the U.S., Asia, Middle East, Africa and the Former Soviet Union in various facets of SCM, including training, certifications and consulting solutions. Patrick is a Past President of ISM-Dallas and under his leadership, ISM-Dallas was presented the Affiliate Excellence Award at the International Conference in San Diego. For the past 19 years, Patrick has led and presented C.P.M. and CPSM review training for the affiliate, resulting in numerous participants achieving certification status and is also the GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES (GBP) Chair. He has also presented this training at the Southwest Supply Management Conferences hosted by ISM and based on excellent evaluations, has been invited back year after year. As founder of SCE (Supply Chain Education.), Pat has worked with major corporations such as Alcatel, Boeing, Fujitsu, Halliburton, Ingersoll-Rand, Atlas Copco, Verizon and Pertomina – The Indonesian owned oil entity, in the areas of supply chain and materials management, traveling extensively in Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has also founded the current on-line learning initiative that has been a huge success with such companies as Halliburton, Ingersoll-Rand, Atlas-Copco and Verizon, resulting in both a U.S. and world-wide roll-out with approximately 1,800 participants, primarily in the areas of C.P.M, CPSM,CPIM and Six-Sigma. Prior to SCE, Patrick has a wealth of experience in materials management and supply chain consulting solutions for high volume, fast paced organizations such as Emerson Electric, EDS, Clark Equipment, Intergraph, Perot Systems and NEC. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of North Texas specializing in logistics, transportation and marketing. He has previously held the role District Pro-D Chair for NAPM-District VII, including seven southeastern states and Puerto Rico. His expertise includes extensive knowledge of ERP, MRP, CRP and various inventory control systems, international procurement, management of cross-functional teams, including buyers, engineering and quality personnel as well as multi-international SCM teams. He has implemented, taught and achieved results for two Fortune 100 corporations in both Michigan State University and A.T. Kearney strategic procurement methodologies. Patrick is one of the first group to be both a Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) and a Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (CPSD) as well as a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.), both through ISM – The Institute for Supply Management and is certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) through APICS – The Operations Management Society. He has a degree in Industrial Management from the University of Alabama, with a minor in Economics. Pat currently resides in the Dallas Texas area.

Get involved! For Volunteer Opportunities Contact our BOARD!

In many survey's the membership have spoken of how much they like more pre-dinner sessions. Volunteering to teach a session helps to accomplish this. When you volunteer your time to teach a class or facilitate a workshop, you get a chance to polish your public speaking skills, and you get a nice credit to add to your résumé. Volunteering allows you to meet people who have similar interests. You may make new friends of the same professional background or a different one all together. Or you may make contacts that become important in the future. There are a variety of opportunities to get involved in our affiliate. Sharing your knowledge of purchasing or logistics topics is of vital importance to grow others in our field and the professional and personal rewards are abundant. If you have a passion for any aspect of purchasing please consider sharing that passion with the other members of your profession.

AND, for a sneak peek into 2013 / 2014 scheduled events, visit our website!

www.ismstlouis.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Patrick Williamson C.P.M. President Term: 2013-14 president@ismstlouis.org Melissa L. Orlando, CPSM, C.P.M. President Elect Term: 2013-14 presidentelect@ismstlouis.org Dawn Fadler, CPSM Vice President Term: 2013-14 vicepresident@ismstlouis.org Max Merz, CPSM, C.P.M. Director of Finance Term: 2012 -14 finance@ismstlouis.org

AFFILIATE DIRECTORS AND ADVISORS

Emily Green Director of Education Term 2013 – 2014 education@ismstlouis.org Christine Wojak Director of Marketing Term: 2012 -14 marketing@ismstlouis.org Patricia Greathouse Director of Membership Term: 2012 -14 members@ismstlouis.org Paula J. Matousek Director of Professional Development Term: 2011 - 14 pro-d@ismstlouis.org Kimberly R. Butts, CPSM, C.P.M. Affiliate Advisor advisor2@ismstlouis.org Larry Jackson, CPSM, C.P.M. Immediate Past President pastpresident@ismstlouis.org