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In this blog we publish - in loose sequence - information and results from the PICTURE project which is a research project led by SAP and funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Program. PICTURE aims at exploiting the large potential for modernizing European Public Administrations that lies in process reorganization with Information and Communication Technology.

Jeff Ashcroft is a vocal consultant in the Supply Chain business and in reading his most recent newsletters and scanning his website, he is putting out some very interesting questions and challenges for leading edge companies. Although he highlights some...

Next week, I will devote these virtual pages to a special series on eSourcing and eProcurement and where their respective spheres cross. I have enlisted some friends in the industry to help give perspective on topics such as integration and next generation supplier networks. Next week’s authors will include myself, Dave Stephens - CEO of [...]

Help to continue the spirit of SAP Community Day Munich and sign-up for Community Day London - April 2008.

In a few weeks, I'm giving a virtual keynote (how cool is that) for ProcureTech Live 2007, an online conference taking place on November 21st. Rather than recycle -- I sometimes call it "green" keynoting -- the same material that I've been using as m...

The Freight Dawg has a blogged (sorry, I just can't bring myself to use his term) about recalls and how Visibility systems are crucial in managing them. I'll add that just knowing where a few thousand cases of peanut butter...

The kaizen newspaper is tool used to perform visual management on the process of continuous improvement itself. Many people who have not been introduced to the kaizen newspaper through kaizen events or as part of a program of team-based problem solving have the wrong idea about what it is. The name seems to throw people off. The kaizen newspaper is not a company newsletter about kaizen. The kaizen newspaper's primary goal is not to share news about continuous improvement activities at your company. That is a newsletter. The kaizen newspaper is not a report. It is a working document that helps you manage the progress of kaizen activity visually. Why is it called a kaizen newspaper? Most likely it was a spur of the moment decision by an interpreter looking for a quick way to translate the Japanese "dare-itsu shimbun" (だれいつ新聞) which is literally "who-when newspaper". It stumped me the first time I heard it from one of my sensei. The word "kaizen" was probably a quick and more elegant substitute for "who-when" by the interpreter to bring this phrase to English speaking ears. The kaizen newspaper is an action list format that Taiichi Ohno is said to have required his students to post on the shop floor in areas where kaizen was being done so that problems could be identified, written down, and assigned "who" and "when" for action. The reason why the kaizen newspaper is called a newspaper is so that management will read it daily to find out what is going on in their businesses. Back in the days when people read newspapers only in the dead-tree format, some people read the paper more than once, the morning paper and the evening paper. The kaizen newspaper should be updated and visited regularly by management. The implication is that the "who-when" action to do kaizen should see daily change, and a lack of progress clearly highlighted as an abnormality. A good newspaper article will contain information detailing where, what, how much, why, who, what, when, and how. The kaizen newspaper also requires this information for the process of effective kaizen, going from an observation of a problem to a proper problem statement, root cause, identifying potential countermeasures, through implementation and checking their effectiveness. A kaizen newspaper should be on paper, for the simple reason of cost, availability, portability and ease of use by anyone who can pick up a pen. No computer skills are required. Kaizen newspapers should be large, with big clear writing to emphasize the visual management aspect. Making effective use of "headlines" or highlighted problem statements, key points and effectiveness of certain countermeasure trials can also increase the usefulness of the kaizen newspapers as tools for managers, resulting in more go to gemba behavior. In short, that is why the kaizen newspaper is called what it is. By Jon Miller - November 1, 2007 9:55 PM

One of the presentations at InteSource's event that I got the most out of was given by an executive at Harris Teeter. For those who don't know Harris Teeter, they're an upscale grocery concept that reminds me quite a bit of Whole Foods, but with much...

As if high commodity prices in base metals, food and energy not to mention capacity constrained supply markets were not enough to drive fear into most sourcing managers in the region, the overall Euro-Zone economy is looking to be in increasingly tou...

Let's start with some clarifications. A Supplier Network is simply a single point of integration that provides a many-to-many connection between buyers and suppliers, allowing them to transact in real-time. The major selling points are large numbers of pre-enabled suppliers and the ability to find new suppliers quickly for a given product or service. However, the reality is that unless most of your competitors are already using the network, most of your suppliers will not be enabled when you join up. Furthermore, despite hype to the contrary, if you ask purchasing, they know who they're doing business with ...

Well, I should start off by confessing that this post has nothing to do with the recent publication titled Sourcing From China - Lessons from the Learners from the Boston Consulting Group. It’s actually about a recent article in Supply & Demand Chain Executive called Global Sourcing: Is It Really Worth It? - which [...]

Last week I shared energy conservation and sustainability approaches from some of the marquee supply management organizations presenting at Empower 2007. I’m happy to report that Purchasing magazine has picked up on the sage sustainability approaches of one of these panelists in a recent article, Sustainability Efforts Boost Procurement Status, Value. The article centers on practices [...]

Trends in process technology

You might think passing dynamic URL parameters to an web application that is integrated in SAP NetWeaver Portal via Application Integrator is going to be easy. Actually, it is. But it's not documented yet. By default no parameter is ever passed to the integrated application.

This blog talks about the challenges around information security both as it relates to export control (ITAR) and protection of a corporation's Intellectual Property (IP). The blog also give some insights of how these challenges can be addressed.

Connecting to the Oracle database - a detailed look into the basis administrator's everyday tasks

For all those non-US readers of Spend Matters, we have an expression in this country called "pork". It refers to government spending programs which are slipped into bills or other appropriations to benefit special interests. Usually, there's some typ...

My inbox receives at least 40 emails a day from internal subscription lists, blanket emails, or helpful forwarders.  Some of them are really important, others not. Some of them are sent more than once, as some mid-management soul forwards them on with the helpful header “may interest”. Some of them are beautifully formatted rich HTML [...]

In a the previous blog, Tom Wright, Industry Principal at SAP America, Martin Schwarz, Senior Scientist at Automotive Insight, and Ute Gramann, SAP AG, BPX Automotive, explored the need to support frontline sales efforts at the dealer. Here, they continue that discussion, looking at the kind of CRM tools and processes needed by salespeople, and how dealers can make the best use of those tools.

When a customer comes into a dealer's showroom, that's a valuable chance to sell a vehicle. But the benefits of taking advantage of that opportunity run deeper, because that sale is also an entry point for selling other services and products, including financing, insurance, service contracts, extended warranties and accessories-not to mention ongoing service. It is, ideally, the beginning of a lasting relationship, and dealers need to arm their salespeople to succeed in those opening interactions, and build solid relationships with customers.