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A.T. Kearney Procurement and Analytic Solutions’ Wave of the Future podcasts will keep you in the know about topics that matter to procurement professionals, including new category sourcing techniques, the latest trends in procurement, and sustainability. Download these informative and timely updates in MP3 format by clicking on the episode titles below. You may also subscribe to an RSS feed for the Wave of the Future from the link on the top right corner of this page.
If you need more information about RSS feeds, please see RSS: Getting Started.
| Sep 03 |
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How to Create and Sustain a New Procurement Organization
The optimum organization structure is a key success factor in procurement. Attempting to develop new metrics, objectives and expectations presents challenges that often hinder an organization's success to implement change. In this podcast, Jane Wanklyn and Daryl Watkins talk with Stacey Rhodes sharing a step-by-step approach of how to successfully create and sustain a new procurement organization. |
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| Aug 20 |
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Food Waste in America: Solving the Paradox
Hunger and food insecurity persist in America despite the abundance of food that is produced. It is estimated that 78 billion pounds of food is wasted annually. In this podcast, Dave Donnan and Alok Agrawal talk with Stacey Rhodes regarding the amount of food waste in America, where it comes from and ideas on minimizing this waste. |
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| Jul 14 |
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Make vs. Buy Revisited
Amid limited capital, lagging demand and restructuring, top executives today are revisiting the Make vs. Buy question. Sean Monahan, Patrick Van den Bossche and Fidel Tamayo talk with Susan Montgomery about why Make vs. Buy is still a relevant question and what the keys to making successful Make vs. Buy decisions are. |
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| Jun 23 |
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Carbon Disclosure Project
Stephen Easton and Randy Watson talk with Susan Montgomery about the findings from the supply chain study that A.T. Kearney recently completed for the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) . The need to drive carbon reduction targets throughout the supply chain is clear. While awareness is increasing, procurement organizations still have a lot of work to do with their suppliers to reduce CO2 emissions. |
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| May 26 |
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Trends in Transportation Sourcing
Transportation is a difficult category to source, involving hundreds or thousands of lanes, multiple modes and specific service requirements. Josh Brogan talks with Susan Montgomery about sourcing approaches that turn the complexity of transportation sourcing into a lever. He also gives us insights about how market timing and business cycles affect the sourcing strategy. |
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| Apr 14 |
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Demand Management
Demand management can add significantly to sourcing savings. Decreasing demand is, in effect, "100% cost reduction." Bob Boll talks with Susan Montgomery about five levers for managing demand and how to measure the savings achieved through effective demand management programs. He also gives us an insight into two projects that achieved significant, measurable savings from demand management over and above the cost reduction savings. |
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| Mar 10 |
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ISM Manufacturing Indexes
The ISM Manufacturing Indexes are one of the best measures of economic activity for supply managers. Norbert Ore, Chair of the ISM Report on Business®, talks with Susan Montgomery about the ISM Indexes and why they are recognized globally as a leading indicator of the US economy. |
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| Feb 24 |
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Expanding the Profit Frontier
Attempts to improve profitability often focus on just one aspect of profit creation such as manufacturing cost reduction or marketing effectiveness or pricing strategy. Steve Mehltretter talks with Susan Montgomery about Expanding the Profit Frontier, a more holistic perspective to help achieve maximum profitability. |
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| Feb 10 |
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Sourcing Complex Global Service Categories
Procurement professionals are faced with a number of challenges when sourcing complex service categories on a global scale, for example, site support services, MRO of factory equipment or maintenance of customer premise equipment. In this podcast, James Rooke and Darren Chew discuss with Helen Clegg the drivers of complexity for these complex service categories and outline the most effective sourcing strategies. They emphasize the key need for strong data analytics capabilities in the sourcing team and note the importance of detailed due diligence and robust transition planning. |
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| Jan 27 |
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Sustainable Complexity Reduction
Complexity reduction provides a real, workable tool that enables a company to take actionable steps towards sustainability at the same time as reducing unnecessary product costs: a true win-win situation. Chris Callieri, Tom Peddicord and Cary Shiao talk with Susan Montgomery about Sustainable Complexity Reduction and how marrying the two concepts not only generates material benefit in the short term but also broadens the long term impact of the project. |
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| Dec 16 |
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The Complexities of Sourcing MRO
Characterized by a high number of sub-categories, huge item counts and multitudes of suppliers, MRO is a complex category to source. Eric Foster shares insights with Stacey Rhodes about how to prepare for and overcome the complexities of sourcing MRO to achieve successful results. |
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| Nov 25 |
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Collaborative Approach to Sourcing Indirect Materials and Services
Indirect materials and services can present a challenge for sourcing teams because they encompass a very large number of items, supplied by hundreds of suppliers and are used by many people across the organization. Bernard Going and Stacey Rhodes discuss a collaborative process for conducting supplier conferences to rapidly identify and implement cost reduction ideas related to indirect materials and services. |
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| Nov 11 |
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Analytics and Procurement Process
Spend data is a crucial determinant of the success or failure of Enterprise Spend Management efforts. In particular, gaining in-depth spend visibility when determining sourcing strategies is an ongoing challenge for sourcing managers. Margaret Brown and Parag Shah talk with Stacey Rhodes about the effectiveness of analytics when properly applied to the sourcing and procurement process. Margaret and Parag share insights regarding different types of data analytics and where the future of analytics and sourcing are moving. |
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| Oct 28 |
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Strategies for Sourcing Chlor-alkali Chemicals
Chlor-alkali chemicals (caustic soda and chlorine) are essential building blocks of many industries. John Moyer talks with Stacey Rhodes about strategies for sourcing Chlor-alkali Chemicals and shares insights regarding the importance of monitoring key raw material supply markets. |
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| Oct 7 |
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Group Buying Consortiums
During these tough economic times, some companies are pooling their resources, experience, and sourcing budgets to obtain substantially better rates and terms than they could individually negotiate. Rosanna Yang and Bharath Thota talk with Stacey Rhodes and share insights they have gained from A.T. Kearney's group buying consortium, the Leveraged Sourcing Network, about the benefits of joining buying consortiums and how they can help your procurement team. |
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| Sep 23 |
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Supply Management Transformation
Organization design is less about lines and boxes and more about ensuring that supply management is focusing on the right strategies, capabilities and categories to drive strategic value. Bob Boll talks with Susan Montgomery about A.T. Kearney perspectives on supply management organization design and describes a recent project where we helped a client to design a new organization model |
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| Sep 9 |
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Supply Risk Management Planning
Managing supply chain risk is more complex today than ever. Gregg Brandyberry talks with Susan Montgomery about procurement strategies for protecting both revenue and corporate reputation. Gregg provides insights based on his experience as CPO of GlaxoSmithKline. |
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| Aug 26 |
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Sourcing Strategies for Complex Categories
You must be flexible when selecting sourcing strategies for complex categories. Wei Shen talks with Stacey Rhodes about sourcing strategies for complex categories with emphasis on packaging. Wei provides insight into specific approaches and techniques to deliver successful project results. |
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| Aug 12 |
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Collaborative Optimization
Collaborative optimization tools bring a new level of transparency to sourcing exercises. Armin Scharlach and Nick Townend talk with Susan Montgomery about how collaborative optimization enabled an A.T. Kearney client to incorporate more options when sourcing its temporary labor spend and custom tailor the solution for their organization. |
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| Jul 29 |
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Sourcing Travel
It’s a buyer's market for sourcing travel. Patrick Hoffmann and Julianna Beall talk with Susan Montgomery about how the travel market has changed in the past two years, what buyers can do to embed savings, and new approaches to sourcing hotel spend. |
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| Jul 15 |
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Supplier Relationship Management
Successful companies recognize the need to build an alliance between their organization and the suppliers that they work with by establishing strong buyer/seller relationships. Supplier relationships are more than simple procurement transactions but require strong commitments from the buyer and seller. Daryl Watkins talks with Stacey Rhodes about supplier relationship management. Daryl provides insight into what supplier relationship management is and how to implement a successful supplier relationship management program to achieve benefits that result in a “win-win” for buyers and sellers. |
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| Jun 3 |
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Supplier Evaluation for Complex Services
When sourcing complex services such as drilling services for oil exploration, selecting the right suppliers is often challenging. Qualifications must be measured across a wide range of factors related to cost, quality and reliability. Marcos Mayo talks with Stacey Rhodes about developing a supplier evaluation framework for complex services. Marcos provides insight into managing sources of complexity and approaches for a successful supplier selection when sourcing highly technical services. |
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| May 13 |
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Optimizing Sourcing Negotiations in the Current Economic Climate
CPOs face two critical issues in today's economic climate: managing supply risk and reducing costs. Roger Blumberg talks with Susan Montgomery about ways to optimize negotiations in today's environment. Roger highlights opportunities for savings here and now and discusses effective negotiation techniques to use in a buyers' market. |
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| May 13 |
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Managing Supplier Risk in the Current Economic Climate
CPOs face two critical issues in today’s economic climate: managing supply risk and reducing costs. Randy Watson talks with Susan Montgomery about how to minimize supplier risks in today’s environment. Randy discusses the importance of having a documented plan to address supply risk and outlines a four step approach. |
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| Apr 22 |
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Commodity Risk Management
Managing supply risk is on top of every CPO’s agenda these days. In the first of our Wave of the Future mini-series on supply risk management, John Moyer and Andrew Chang talk with Susan Montgomery about strategies for managing commodity risk exposure and how statistical modeling and simulations are used to develop the best strategy for each commodity. |
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| Apr 08 |
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Procurement Assessments
An effective procurement assessment is key to strategic sourcing success. Daryl Watkins talks with Susan Montgomery about how to conduct a procurement assessment that will set the scene for driving sustainable improvements. |
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| Mar 25 |
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SharePoint Implementation
Collaboration tools really can make the difference between project completion and project success. Nate Lamb talks with Susan Montgomery about how A. T. Kearney got a silo-ed organization working together on a complexity reduction project by implementing Microsoft SharePoint. |
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| Mar 11 |
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Information Management in Procurement
Best-in-class procurement organizations have formalized processes for the continuous capture and sharing of market intelligence. Jane Wanklyn talks with Susan Montgomery about how to incorporate information management as part of the sourcing process and the tangible benefits that our clients have seen from improved market intelligence. |
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| Feb 25 |
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Finding Opportunity in Crisis
The Chinese characters for crisis (Wei ji), also mean “danger + opportunity”. Simon Chen talks with Susan Montgomery about the effects of the global economic crisis in China and how procurement organizations can benefit from the current situation. |
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| Feb 04 |
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The Value of Pre-Merger Integration in Procurement
Most mergers fail because they fail to meet the announced objectives. Melitta Cognat talks with Susan Montgomery about the challenges that the procurement organization faces in a merger situation and how A.T. Kearney’s Jump Start approach enables procurement organizations to get off to a quick start on Day 1. |
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| Jan 21 |
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Supplier Identification
Qualified, trustworthy and reliable suppliers are crucial to business success, but finding the right suppliers is a more complex process than ever. In our latest Wave of the Future podcast, Judi Carithers and Stacey Rhodes talk with Helen Clegg about why the supplier identification process is central to a successful sourcing project and what it takes to conduct a successful search. |
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| Jan 07 |
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Sourcing Milk Products- What To Do When Prices Are Regulated
What sourcing strategies are effective when prices are highly regulated? Take milk prices in the USA, for example. In this podcast, Tiffany Hickerson and Estelle Smith talk with Susan Montgomery about the characteristics of the US dairy industry and options to consider when sourcing milk products. |
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| Dec 03 |
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Sourcing Flavors and Fragrances
In the market for flavors and fragrances, all products are designed for the customer’s specific requirements. The selection process is complex and may involve marketing, product innovation teams, procurement, and even celebrity endorsers. John Moyer talks with Susan Montgomery about how A. T. Kearney has successfully sourced this unique category for a number of clients in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and consumer products industries. |
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| Nov 19 |
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Next Generation Six Sigma: Capturing More Value with Less Effort
The Crash of 2008 is compelling companies to look for fast and effective improvements in all areas of their business. We are seeing renewed interest in Six Sigma, a tested and proven methodology that can significantly improve top- and bottom-line performance … but only if it’s implemented in the right way. Patrick Van den Bossche talks with Susan Montgomery about how Six Sigma programs can go off the tracks and how A. T. Kearney’s Next Generation Six Sigma approach can re-invigorate and re-focus your Six Sigma efforts for maximum results. |
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| Nov 05 |
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Contract Manufacturing
Almost every manufacturing company utilizes external contract manufacturing services for some part of their production process. In this podcast, we discuss the approach that A. T. Kearney has developed to help companies baseline their contract manufacturing activities, assess near and longer-term risks, and develop a robust contract strategy. We hear about recent engagement experiences working with a client with nearly 400 contract manufacturer relationships to identify and manage risks, insight into leading practice, and tools that Kearney uses to help clients maximize their value from contract manufacturing relationships. |
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| Oct 08 |
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Rolling Stock Components Sourcing in China
In this Wave of the Future podcast, we discuss the Chinese market for railroad rolling stock. This is a rapidly growing market; the Chinese government is investing heavily in expanding both the national railway network and urban mass transit systems. A. T. Kearney recently conducted a market study and supplier search for rolling stock components, including machined parts for bogies. We learn more about this project and some of its surprising conclusions. |
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| Aug 20 |
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Socially Conscious Sourcing
"In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine." ~ Great Law of the Iroquois.
Garry Embleton, VP of Strategic Sourcing at Seventh Generation, talks to Helen Clegg about socially conscious sourcing. What are the benefits to companies for sourcing in a more socially conscious way, especially in the current business environment? |
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| Jul 23 |
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Personal Sustainability
In this The Wave of the Future podcast, we hear about one family’s experience with solar energy, biodiesel and other technologies for living a sustainable lifestyle. Find out how they have offset at least 30,000 pounds of CO2 in the air since 2005. We can all be the change that we want to see in the world. |
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| Jul 09 |
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Plastic Packaging
The US supply market for rigid plastic food packaging (containers and closures) is a $20 billion industry and is expected to grow at about 6% per annum for the next three years. Although some might think that convenience still trumps sustainability, that's not the whole story. Listen to find out what's happening in this industry and how buyers can keep costs under control. |
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| May 21 |
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Practical Strategy and Tactics for Compressed Sourcing
Two months to assess and source a pool of ten categories or four days to prepare and run an internet negotiation – that’s compressed sourcing. This podcast has plenty of practical tactics and pragmatic strategies that will help to make these “impossible” projects possible. Listen for good ideas that will help your sourcing projects to run more smoothly. |
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| May 07 |
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Metal Packaging in the U.S. Food & Beverage Industry
The US market for metal cans is highly consolidated and competitive, with only three or four suppliers commanding most of the market share. With metal prices skyrocketing, what can buyers do to keep costs under control? |
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| Mar 26 |
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Accelerating Sourcing
With pressures mounting on supply management organizations to have a greater impact on the bottom line, the need to achieve better results faster continues to build. In this Wave of the Future podcast, we discuss steps that procurement professionals can take to reduce sourcing cycle times even more. |
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| Mar 12 |
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Centers of Excellence
Setting up a Sourcing Center of Excellence can yield real benefits for a sourcing organization, for relatively little investment. This podcast will inform you about what a Center of Excellence does, what benefits can be gained, and the practicalities of setting one up. |
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| Feb 27 |
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Where Next for Low Cost Country Sourcing?
Will Asia remain the sourcing powerhouse of the world? We consider whether other geographic regions might eclipse Asia, such as Eastern Europe, Latin America and perhaps even Africa. |
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| Nov 21 |
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Commodity Risk Management
What strategies can companies use to protect themselves against recurring spikes in commodity prices and supply volatility? Can a company turn its exposure to risk into competitive advantage? We present an overview of the A.T. Kearney approach to commodity risk management and outline the benefits gained from proactively managing supply risk. |
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