^The APQC Blog

Last month, APQC hosted a webinar on managing the risk of supply chain disruption. APQC'S Mary Driscoll, Experis' Eric Gerner and John Hejka, and Baker Hughes' Mike Miedema looked at how organizations identify and mitigate supply chain risk while maintaining efforts to control costs of materials and services. According to Eric Gerner of Experis, “supplier risk has been identified as one of the most strategic, highest level, and most critical risks out there.”

APQC is putting the finishing touches on a study that examined which tools (software and hardware) our members are using to be more productive at home and in the workplace.  We found that laptops and smartphones are the tools that are used most often (see chart below).  This comes on the heels of a recent article in USA Today by Jon Swartz that says most of us have more than one device. 

Work force planning is the process of ensuring that an organization has the talent it needs to accomplish strategic business goals when the organization needs it. Spending time on work force planning can drive the competitive advantage of an organization. A successful work force planning exercise identifies talent supply gaps for critical positions and generates strategies to develop and/or recruit talent to fill those gaps.

What are the unique challenges to filling positions in supply chain? A recent article in Supply Chain Digest emphasizes the demand for supply chain professionals and the benefits afforded those who choose the profession. The article notes that the demand for supply chain talent outpaces available supply. How are organizations recruiting and managing quality supply chain management professionals?

Obviously one of the highlights of APQC’s knowledge management (KM) conference is hearing our CEO, Carla O’Dell, give her views on where KM is headed.

It’s a sad truth that sometimes projects fail. This article written by Duncan Haughey, courtesy of the Process Excellence Network (PEX), examines five common reasons for project failure and suggests how to overcome them.

Successful Project Management is Not Rocket Science

Do you have questions regarding how the human resources shared services industry performs on key metrics related to:

Recruiting high-potential supply chain professionals is of interest to many organizations. With supply chain becoming a more strategic function within the enterprise, organizations are seeking employees that can meet the demands of a complex, global economy.

During the recession, many companies pared their supplier lists to win volume price discounts from surviving vendors. Many firms also extended the global reach of their sourcing activities. But the need to balance cost efficiency with supply chain resiliency has become a growing concern.

APQC’s 18th Annual Knowledge Management (KM) Conference was a huge success. As a new member to our KM team, it was great for me to meet many of the attendees and conference speakers.

We had a lot of great organizations presenting on the new and exciting things that are happening in KM. Obviously, it’s hard to pick and choose what breakout sessions to attend. I know I had that problem. Luckily, we now have overviews of the breakout sessions available in APQC’s Knowledge Base. If you missed out on a session, take a read and see what you missed.