Kaplan SCM
New member
Good afternoon.
I work for a large educational services firm that provides online, self-study and classroom products for students and professionals. My Supply Chain Management team consists of three buyers and three inventory specialists. Our tangible product buy include books, exams, CDs, flashcards, etc. The majority of our annual spend falls in the print portion of our portfolio, which consists primarily of saddle-stitch, perfect bound and wiro-bound products.
Without delving too deeply into the details of our business, spend and purchasing practices I pose this simple question: What are the key factors to consider when deciding whether or not to procure paper for our printer's to use for our products?
I don't want to give the impression that my mind is made up, but here's what I'm dealing with: We buy paper for about 50% of our volume of this category and every year we end up with a huge paper cost allocation mess to work through with our Accounting group. Our buyers are adamant that they are saving the company money by buying paper and managing the trends in the marketplace. I think that any savings that we might obtain from this practice are eaten alive by the accounting mess and associated write-offs at year end. Since I believe (and proclaim) myself to be a pragmatic leader, I'm looking for feedback and benchmarking perspectives from other publishers and print buyers.
Thanks, in advance.
I work for a large educational services firm that provides online, self-study and classroom products for students and professionals. My Supply Chain Management team consists of three buyers and three inventory specialists. Our tangible product buy include books, exams, CDs, flashcards, etc. The majority of our annual spend falls in the print portion of our portfolio, which consists primarily of saddle-stitch, perfect bound and wiro-bound products.
Without delving too deeply into the details of our business, spend and purchasing practices I pose this simple question: What are the key factors to consider when deciding whether or not to procure paper for our printer's to use for our products?
I don't want to give the impression that my mind is made up, but here's what I'm dealing with: We buy paper for about 50% of our volume of this category and every year we end up with a huge paper cost allocation mess to work through with our Accounting group. Our buyers are adamant that they are saving the company money by buying paper and managing the trends in the marketplace. I think that any savings that we might obtain from this practice are eaten alive by the accounting mess and associated write-offs at year end. Since I believe (and proclaim) myself to be a pragmatic leader, I'm looking for feedback and benchmarking perspectives from other publishers and print buyers.
Thanks, in advance.