Marisa Brown

Houston

Always looking for supply chain and supplier-related best practices and interesting benchmarks. Views expressed are my own.

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Articles

Centralize Direct Procurement for Best Results

1 week ago | sdcexec.com | Marisa Brown

If you want a faster, more efficient, and more productive procurement function, you should centralize direct procurement to the extent that you can. Of the organizations that participated in APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking research for procurement, those with centralized direct procurement have lower costs, require fewer full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), and achieve faster cycle times than those with decentralized direct procurement.
4 Strategies to Managing Supply Chain Planning Costs

1 month ago | sdcexec.com | Marisa Brown

Supply chain planning encompasses a broad range of processes and activities, all of which are closely tied to the success of an organization’s supply chain. From developing production and materials strategies to managing demand, creating a master production schedule, and more, there are a lot of moving parts that supply chain leaders need to account for in their planning—and plenty that could go wrong along the way.
Phase in changes

1 month ago | pbn.com | Marisa Brown |Anne Ewing

Marisa Angell Brown | Providence Preservation Society executive director No matter what your organization or business does, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of acute change. It is something that I have become deeply familiar with during my time with PPS. Like so many other cultural and heritage institutions today, the preservation society Already a Subscriber?
Overcoming obstacles and embracing new supply chain priorities

1 month ago | scmr.com | Marisa Brown

(Photo: Getty Images) So far, this year has been a continuation of 2024 with supply chains facing disruptions and challenges resulting from multiple factors beyond anyone’s control. At the beginning of 2025, APQC wrapped up its 11th annual Supply Chain Management Priorities and Challenges research with 379 supply chain professionals from around the world and across multiple industries.
Achieving goals through collaboration and visibility

1 month ago | scmr.com | Marisa Brown

So far, 2025 has started out as a continuation of the previous year. Factors beyond organizations’ control have taken a toll on their performance on business goals. Many supply chain organizations are looking to overcome obstacles by prioritizing supplier relationships and supply chain visibility this year. This year, supply chains are facing much of the same disruptions and challenges resulting from factors beyond their control.
New Year, New Priorities for Supply Chains

2 months ago | sdcexec.com | Marisa Brown

Each year, the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) carries out a survey to ask supply chain professionals about their organizations’ key priorities and focus areas for the coming year. This year—and for the first time since 2019—we found that supply chain planning is no longer the top area of focus for surveyed organizations. This does not mean that supply chain planning no longer matters—it’s still the third-most important overall area of focus.
3 Roadblocks to Effective Environmental Measurement

2 months ago | sdcexec.com | Marisa Brown

While many organizations are setting ambitious environmental goals, relatively few expect to actually meet them. Based on recent research with 1,700 global participants, APQC found that only 45% of respondents expect to meet or exceed their climate-related targets. About another quarter of respondents have a complete roadmap but only ‘hope’ to achieve it.
Infographic: Supply chain innovation

Jan 7, 2025 | scmr.com | Marisa Brown

To ensure sustained precision and efficiency, supply chain organizations look for the right measures to track their performance. Yet many do not consider measuring innovation in the supply chain. Organizations often aim to increase their innovation, but they must first determine which type of innovation to focus on and how to measure the success of their efforts.
Making innovation a measurement priority

Jan 7, 2025 | scmr.com | Marisa Brown

(Photo: Getty Images) To ensure precision and efficiency, supply chain organizations look for the right measures to track their performance. These efforts focus on identifying key performance indicators for standard supply chain functions such as planning, procurement, manufacturing, and logistics. Subscribe to our weekly e-mail update Don’t miss out on the best in supply chain.
3 Strategies to Spread Continuous Improvement Across Your Supply Chain

Nov 24, 2024 | sdcexec.com | Marisa Brown

Continuous improvement helps supply chain professionals enhance quality, decrease costs, work more efficiently and build resilience for the future. In recent research with 316 organizations, APQC found that many supply chain organizations have already implemented continuous improvement using methodologies like Total Quality Management (44% of respondents) and Plan, Do, Check, Act (40%). Only a small minority of organizations have not adopted any formal continuous improvement program at this point.