Evolving Trends and Risks of Micro Switch Procurement Market

  Micro Switches are being produced and supplied on a large scale because of its significance in any electrical appliance. Over the past few years, many new players have entered the market and raised the competition among participants. Let's find out more about this trend.

The advent of more manufacturers in the industry has raised some concerns for procurement managers. In this discussion sourcing-force.com, we will try to assess the trends of procurement in the micro switch market and we will also highlight some key risks associated with it.

You must have heard about a hike in the prices of micro switches recently. This has primarily happened because of an increase in several costs including wages, storage, logistics, and energy. It has left procurement managers scratching their heads and they now keep changing their buying tactics. Let's discuss some of them.

Procurers are now preferring to go to those vendors who offer one-stop solutions so that they can have other technological services along with microswitch. Another common strategy which procurement managers are adopting to deal with rising prices is buying in bulk quantity. This helps them save costs for their company and brings down the cost of production.

Another common practice in this regard is engaging with those suppliers who have greater recycling capacity. This reduces their cost and helps them transfer the benefit to buyers.

It is also important for procurement managers to form a strategic alliance with those suppliers who have the global delivery channel available with a global presence. This is very common among procurers these days because it does not cause any hindrance in the delivery or quality all over the globe.

Next, buyers like to affiliate their companies with those suppliers of a micro switch who are research-oriented. Research can help increase the quality of the switch and sustainable performance with reduced cost.

There are many risks associated with the procurement of a micro switch that must be considered and mitigated by buyers. Three major risks are given below:

Need-Analysis:

Consultation must be done with engineers before procuring a micro switch. This will give an idea about what quality and quantity to purchase. This information will also help pick up the right supplier for the order.

Avoid Cost-Buffering:

Cost buffering is a terminology used by suppliers to get some extra margin when buyers don't have complete information about the project and micro switch required. So, it is important to know the complete requirements of the order along with the technical aspects of the microswitch.

Legal Arrangements:

There are times when orders are not delivered on time or there is some dispute over quality. In such circumstances, terms of business agreed between both parties prevail. Therefore, it is important to go through all covenants of the agreement and it must be drafted in such a way that it is beneficial for both stakeholders.

Putting in a nutshell, increasing demand for micro switches is bringing challenges to procurement managers for which buying tactics are evolving. Some risks must be mitigated in the process.

Research has shown that leading companies today employ extensive use of procurement technology for purposes of driving high performance. Procurement masters do this in the following ways:

Provide heavy support to their source-to-pay process via a complete suite of integrated technology modules.

Achieve "one version of the truth" through the harmonization of master data across systems and consistent maintenance procedures.

Have access to highly visible data so as to enable full reporting.

Boast a full portfolio of supplier integration technology.

Today's procurement masters therefore enjoy significant payoffs, delivering 2.5 times more value for every dollar spent in procurement, in comparison to average performers. But what lies ahead with regards to procurement technology benefits of the future? Take a look.

Innovative Technology

With the economy still in recovery, business focus has shifted to technology that is easy to deploy and which delivers a quick and tangible ROI. Granted, technology today typically focuses on the manufacturing element of the enterprise, which is where the money is made. Nevertheless, procurement remains at the heart of every organization; therefore innovation in technology can help boost procurement engagement ultimately leading to a reduction in costs and increase in savings.

Increased Connectivity

Procurement managers of the future will increasingly need to adapt to the convergence of work and play. Consumer-style expectations will persist in their migration into the workplace with access via the traditional PC/ browser-based platforms being superseded by apps. Procurement technology applications will shift their focus to engagement and usability so as to drive efficient processes and fantastic compliance. Additionally, as with the internet, technology is set to become even more connected over time.

Intelligent, Multi-Dimensional Data

Business procurement is set to resemble consumer procurement platforms such as eBay and Amazon. This will be achieved through technology that is more intelligent and which utilizes multiple dimensions of data to steer spending behavior towards the most attractive deals. In this way, procurement managers will be able to make purchasing decisions that are quick and better informed.

An efficient and integrated technology foundation is critical for achieving such results for the business of the future. This will also require thought leadership in procurement and sourcing, specialized skills for SAP procurement and global client experience to assist an organization in the maintenance of a reliable, high quality supply base while reducing costs. It is such a foundation that will provide your business with a procurement technology framework that will power high performance for years to come.

How Emerging Technologies Are Shaping the Future of The Global Economy

The world is on the cusp of a digital revolution, with innovation disrupting the way we do everything, from using appliances and gadgets to performing financial transactions.

New Asset Classes

The digital economy is growing at a fast rate all over the world. The current digital economy is characterized by the creation of new asset classes and digitization of traditional assets. Emerging technologies, such as the blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and 3D printing, are playing a pivotal rule in fueling this growth.

The new technologies feature assets that have the potential to dominate the global economy in the future. For instance, the blockchain has virtual coins and tokens whose popularity has grown exponentially in a short time period.

Big Players Entering the Game

The blockchain enables users to perform transactions securely and much quicker than traditional methods. The features of the blockchain have attracted many prominent technology and financial companies, including IBM, Oracle smart-contract.com, JP Morgan Chase and Boeing. For instance, IBM recently teamed up with Stronghold, a financial technology company, to launch a dollar-backed cryptocurrency called Stronghold USD. This virtual currency is an example of how consumer confidence in a traditional asset (fiat-currency USD in this case) is used to support a digital asset.

There are also examples where companies are combining two new technologies to provide solutions for the future. Aerospace giant Boeing recently announced a collaboration with artificial intelligence company SparkCognition to develop blockchain-using traffic management solutions for unmanned air vehicles.

The Game Changer

The tokenization of assets isn't limited to traditional assets such as currencies. The new market can utilize the intrinsic value of a wide variety of assets to provide security tokens. The blockchain can be a differentiating factor between security tokens and traditional securities. The use of smart contracts on the blockchain eliminates the need for a middleman, thus reducing transfer costs. This usability of the blockchain has the potential to significantly affect the traditional banking system. It may also eliminate the need for money as a medium exchange, as all assets are liquid, instantly available and divisible.

Automation and artificial intelligence have already made their mark in many markets. Trading algorithms have overtaken human traders. In the manufacturing sector, machines have taken many of the jobs previously performed by humans.

Need for a New Framework

In this rapidly changing economy, it's no longer feasible to rely on traditional models and methods of making decisions. To keep up with new developments, such as DAO, AI, VR, P2P and M2M, it's imperative that we develop a new framework. In other words, we need to move beyond the Munger's Mental Models and focus on digital models, such as network theories and exponential growth models.

The digitization of our economy is taking place at a rapid pace. With time, we will get a clearer picture of which developments will dominate this new web 3.0 economy, but it's clear that this economic revolution is taking place on a global scale.

This year the value of Bitcoin has soared, even past one gold-ounce. There are also new cryptocurrencies on the market, which is even more surprising which brings cryptocoins' worth up to more than one hundred billion. On the other hand, the longer term cryptocurrency-outlook is somewhat of a blur. There are squabbles of lack of progress among its core developers which make it less alluring as a long term investment and as a system of payment.

Bitcoin

Still the most popular, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that started all of it. It is currently the biggest market cap at around $41 billion and has been around for the past 8 years. Around the world, Bitcoin has been widely used and so far there is no easy to exploit weakness in the method it works. Both as a payment system and as a stored value, Bitcoin enables users to easily receive and send bitcoins. The concept of the blockchain is the basis in which Bitcoin is based. It is necessary to understand the blockchain concept to get a sense of what the cryptocurrencies are all about.

To put it simply, blockchain is a database distribution that stores every network transaction as a data-chunk called a "block." Each user has blockchain copies so when Alice sends 1 bitcoin to Mark, every person on the network knows it.

Litecoin

One alternative to Bitcoin, Litecoin attempts to resolve many of the issues that hold Bitcoin down. It is not quite as resilient as Ethereum with its value derived mostly from adoption of solid users. It pays to note that Charlie Lee, ex-Googler leads Litecoin. He is also practicing transparency with what he is doing with Litecoin and is quite active on Twitter.

Litecoin was Bitcoin's second fiddle for quite some time but things started changing early in the year of 2017. First, Litecoin was adopted by Coinbase along with Ethereum and Bitcoin. Next, Litecoin fixed the Bitcoin issue by adopting the technology of Segregated Witness. This gave it the capacity to lower transaction fees and do more. The deciding factor, however, was when Charlie Lee decided to put his sole focus on Litecoin and even left Coinbase, where're he was the Engineering Director, just for Litecoin. Due to this, the price of Litecoin rose in the last couple of months with its strongest factor being the fact that it could be a true alternative to Bitcoin.

Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin, superstar programmer thought up Ethereum, which can do everything Bitcoin is able to do. However its purpose, primarily, is to be a platform to build decentralized applications. The blockchains are where the differences between the two lie. Basically, the blockchain of Bitcoin records a contract-type, one that states whether funds have been moved from one digital address to another address. However, there is significant expansion with Ethereum as it has a more advanced language script and has a more complex, broader scope of applications.

Projects began to sprout on top of Ethereum when developers began noticing its better qualities. Through token crowd sales, some have even raised dollars by the millions and this is still an ongoing trend even to this day. The fact that you can build wonderful things on the Ethereum platform makes it almost like the internet itself. This caused a skyrocketing in the price so if you purchased a hundred dollars' worth of Ethereum early this year, it would not be valued at almost $3000.

Monero

Monero aims to solve the issue of anonymous transactions. Even if this currency was perceived to be a method of laundering money, Monero aims to change this. Basically, the difference between Monero and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin features a transparent blockchain with every transaction public and recorded. With Bitcoin, anyone can see how and where the money was moved. There is some somewhat imperfect anonymity on Bitcoin, however. In contrast, Monero has an opaque rather than transparent transaction method. No one is quite sold on this method but since some folks love privacy for whatever purpose, Monero is here to stay.

Zcash

Not unlike Monero, Zcash also aims to solve the issues that Bitcoin has. The difference is that rather than being completely transparent, Monero is only partially public in its blockchain style. Zcash also aims to solve the problem of anonymous transactions. After all, no every person loves showing how much money they actually spent on memorabilia by Star Wars. Thus, the conclusion is that this type of cryptocoin really does have an audience and a demand, although it's hard to point out which cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy will eventually come out on top of the pile.

Bancor

Also known as a "smart token," Bancor is the new generation standard of cryptocurrencies which can hold more than one token on reserve. Basically, Bancor attempts to make it easy to trade, manage and create tokens by increasing their level of liquidity and letting them have a market price that is automated. At the moment, Bancor has a product on the front-end that includes a wallet and the creation of a smart token. There are also features in the community such as stats, profiles and discussions. In a nutshell, the protocol of Bancor enables the discovery of a price built-in as well as a mechanism for liquidity for smart contractual tokens through a mechanism of innovative reserve. Through smart contract, you can instantly liquidate or purchase any of the tokens within the reserve of Bancor. With Bancor, you can create new cryptocoins with ease. Now who wouldn't want that?

EOS

Another competitor of Ethereum, EOS promises to solve the scaling issue of Ethereum through the provision of a set of tools that are more robust to run and create apps on the platform.

Tezos

An alternative to Ethereum, Tezos can be consensually upgraded without too much effort. This new blockchain is decentralized in the sense that it is self-governing through the establishment of a digital true commonwealth. It facilitates the mathematical technique called formal verification and has security-boosting features of the most financially weighed, sensitive smart contract. Definitely a great investment in the months to come.

Purchasing Management - A Driving Force to Maximizing Profitability

Purchasing Managers, purchasing agents and buyers are the life support system of your supply chain. I often use the phrase in leadership training; "You're only as good as the people you surround yourself with." That phrase also applies to one of the most critical functions in wholesale distribution, the Purchasing Manager. So what does being the life support systems to supply chain management mean? It means purchasing is the center of the universe, the equator, the fulcrum when it comes to meeting customer demands. This is a common fact. We all know it. Most of us say it and yet few of us really understand it acheteurs.tv. Even the US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics supports it with reams of data on purchasing. However, the more important, often overlooked, misunderstood and underutilized concept is that Purchasing Managers in our industry are really the "Tendons and Muscles" that enhance profitability within the supply chain itself.

Most of us "Talk the Talk" and can quote supply chain gospel. In fact, deep down we really do believe that profitability in the industry is driven by the supply side of the equation. Yet, in reality, we may not really understand the true value, the contributions, the skill set required for success and how to recognize or leverage talent within our own organization for this critical piece of our overall success formula.

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Understanding SCM is basic to understanding the necessary purchasing culture required to leverage our ability to maximize profitable growth. It begins with understanding your markets, your customer base and the future of the industry. It is critical that we understand SCM and how to create an effective purchasing culture that supports company strategic initiatives. This obviously includes maximizing profitable growth while maintaining world class service and customer satisfaction.

Keep in mind the fact that the supply chain will exist whether or not we have a competent, Superstar Purchasing Manager running the buy side of our profitability equation. (E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com for a copy of the article "Margin Management--Using the Supplier Profitability Ratio") There are a number of academic definitions of SCM published today for reference. However, I believe the definition can be stated in these terms:

"Supply Chain Management is the coordination of partnerships between the manufacturer, importer, distributor and customer that results in maximizing growth, profitability and customer satisfaction."

How Do We Create the Successful Purchasing Culture?

The Purchasing Manager must become the Driving Force. Sometimes the simplicity of the answer lies within the complexity of the question. Start by asking the following questions:

1. How was the Purchasing Manager selected?

2. What criteria were used in the selection process?

3. What kind of qualifications beyond seniority was brought to the table?

4. What kind of training did the Purchasing Manager receive after being promoted?

5. Does training include leadership skill development, coaching, mentoring, negotiations, sales effectiveness and team building?

Keep in mind that the purchasing environment at many companies is strictly determined by size and revenue stream of the organization. In larger organizations there is a distinction between the duties of a Purchasing Manager, a Buyer and a Purchasing Agent. And in some cases we just employ order placers with little or no responsibility for growth and profitability.

Purchasing agents and buyers often focus on routine tasks and they may specialize in particular product lines or other groups of related commodities. The Purchasing Manager needs to focus on the strategic side of the business, tracking market trends, customer preferences, price trends, cost effectiveness and managing the supply chain. This includes evaluating and qualifying vendor partners, improved negotiations and the support of merchandising strategies. Critically important to creating a successful purchasing culture is their ability to coach, mentor and train their buyers on creating profitability, maximizing customer service and building relationship equity with their own sales force.

The Purchasing Management Superstar

Finding the right person to fill the critically important role of Purchasing Manager can become quite a challenge. Often times there is a tendency to simply rely on tenure, product experience and the compassionate, often misguided feelings of employee entitlement.

The Owner -----"We have grown to the point that Purchasing Management needs to become a strategic initiative. Let's promote Old Joe, he's been with us for twenty two years now and has been handling the commodity side of our business for the past fifteen years."

The VP of Sales ---- "But Joe doesn't have any formal management training and some of our sales people think he's a real pain! He's doesn't understand cost effectiveness and lacks creativity. Remember the major problem we had with our number one supplier."

The Owner --- "Hey, he's been with me for twenty two years. He deserves a promotion. We can send him to a seminar on Time Management."

Some of you readers may recognize that conversation however many may not recognize the fallacies that lie within it. In wholesale distribution, it seems that the primary prerequisite for becoming a Purchasing Manager is being a buyer for the company and having long tenure... Promoting our senior buyer to Purchasing Manager simply due to how long they have been with the company is a common mistake. This misconception is often based on the lack of understanding about the critical nature of the position and how it should contribute to the overall success of the organization.

Different Skill Sets

It is an undisputable fact that different skill sets are required to become a successful Purchasing Manager as compared to being a successful buyer. Purchasing is a profession that requires professionals. Managing a group of professionals with the type of personalities required to succeed sandwiched between the needs of the sales force, the needs of the vendor partners and the obligation to be cost effective, competitive in the market place and maximize growth and profitability is not an ordinary challenge. Yet, in my humble opinion, it is probably one of the most important management positions you can hold in a company. Purchasing Management holds the key to meeting company objectives. Effective Purchasing Management builds the platform for success.

Don't cringe; Purchasing Managers need to have a sales personality before they can really understand the science of selling in the wholesale distribution industry. This is a prerequisite to building an effective, supportive purchasing organization that develops policy and procedure, creates a cost effective process, negotiates beyond the purchase price, develops a staff that understands the necessity of relationship equity with the internal sales force and embraces the concept of purchasing strategies that are in alignment with company strategy. This sales DNA will come in handy for the development of true partnerships with vendors and gain the respect of the company's sales force.

Get Your Personal Finances On Track With These Tips

The financial difficulties in which millions of people have found themselves in recent years have caused increased interest in the topic of smart personal finance. There is no substitute for knowledge when it comes to making wise choices on stretching every dollar. The tips in the article that follows provide a great starting place for anyone looking to get the most out of every paycheck.

To understand how you spend money, keep a journal listing every cent you spend for one week. If you put it away then you may completely forget about it. A better choice may be writing your purchases on a poster or whiteboard that can be placed in a prominent place to catch your attention daily. You will glance at it often so that you can keep the message fresh in your mind.

Stay out of debt as much as you can. While certain debts are unavoidable, like mortgages or college loans, toxic debts such as credit cards are best avoided at all costs. The less you are borrowing, the less you're going to have to spend on fees and interest.

A higher education can ensure that you get a better position in personal finance. Census data shows that people who have a bachelor's degree can earn nearly double the money that someone with just a diploma earns. Even though there are costs to go to college, in the end it will pay for itself and more.

Trade in your gas guzzler for an economical, high miles per gallon car. If you drive a truck or SUV that gets bad gas mileage, you may be able to cover the monthly payments for a new car with your gas savings. Calculate what you spend on gas now with what you would spend in a car that gets 30mpg or higher. The savings might shock you.

Stay away from payday loans if at all possible. They charge ridiculous amounts of interest and can trap you into a revolving door of renewing them each time you can't afford to pay it off. Look at all other options, including asking friends and family for help, before going for a payday loan.

If you want to save money, then look hard at your current spending patterns. It is easy to theoretically "wish" you could save money, but actually doing it requires some self-discipline and a little detective work. For one month, write down all of your expenses in a notebook. Commit to writing down everything, such as, morning coffee, taxi fare or pizza delivery for the kids. The more accurate and specific you are, then the better understanding you will get for where your money is really going. Knowledge is power! Scrutinize your log at the end of the month to find the areas you can cut back on and bank the savings vortex.network. Small changes add up to big dollars over time, but you have to make the effort.

Automatic bill payments should be reviewed quarterly. Most consumers are taking advantage of many of the automatic financial systems available that pay bills, deposit checks and pay off debts on their own. This does save time, but the process leaves a door wide open for abuse. Not only should all financial activity be reviewed monthly, the canny consumer will review his automatic payment arrangements very closely every three to four months, to ensure they are still doing exactly what he wants them to.

Department stores will feed on their customers purchasing items at retail price, which can drain a bank account very quick. Instead of falling for this, go into all of your favorite stores and find the sale or clearance rack. Typically, you will find great deals on quality items in this section.

Bonds are a very stable and solid investment that you can make if you want to plan for the future. These forms of investments are purchased at a fraction of what they will be worth in the future. Invest in bonds if you want to earn a solid payback in the future upon maturity.

If you love to shop, one tip that you can follow is to buy clothes out of season. When it is the wintertime, you can get great deals on summer clothes and vice versa. Since you will eventually use these anyway, this is a great way to maximize your savings.

If your employer offers a match to your 401K, make sure you're contributing at least the amount they match. When an employer offers to match your funds, they are essentially giving you free money. The money you contribute will help you reach retirement goals and is tax free. It's a win-win situation, all around.

Find out if you will get a discount for making your payments automatically. Many times if you mail your payment you will be charged as much as $5.00 per month. You may find that there is a nice discount for you if you set up an automatic payment through your checking account or credit card.

Carry at least ten dollars in cash or a debit card. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act lets merchants set a minimum amount for credit card transactions. The minimum amount cannot be more than ten dollars and does not apply to debit cards. Previously, some merchants inflicted minimums in violation of credit card agreements.

Starting your kids out early and teaching them about personal financial issues, is a great way to help them in the future. Teach them the importance of saving by getting them a piggy bank, and let them understand what it means to work by paying for chores completed. Try to keep credit out of the equation.

It is impossible to deny the fact that most people are interested in maximizing their financial situations even under the most challenging circumstances. In order to accomplish that goal, it is necessary to arm yourself with a diverse group of principles and tips. Start with the advice in this piece, and you will be well on your way to creating the financial future you desire.