Guest Blogger Dr. Tom DePaoli My Purchasing Center

Guest Blogger My Purchasing Center

Dr. Tom DePaoli

Dr. Tom DePaoli is the Management Program Director at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and the Principal (CEO) of Apollo Solutions (www.apollosolutions.us) which does general business consulting in the supply chain, Lean Six Sigma and human resources areas. Recently he retired from the Navy Reserve after over 30 years of service. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and Lean Six Sigma deployments. He is the author of: Common Sense Purchasing,  Common Sense Supply Management and Growing up Italian in the 50s.

Blog Site link = http://www.mypurchasingcenter.com/blogger/1133

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A New Way to Look at Paying Procurement

March 4th
The major objection to the pay-for-skill approach is the cost and the length of time for payback from the employees' improved knowledge. Once in place, however; the power of this employee intellectual capital, and the momentum of continuous improvement, es… Read More

De-Mystifying Lean Six Sigma for Purchasing Professionals

February 17th
Supply chain and purchasing professionals must take the leadership role in LSS, Lean and kaizens. In my professional experience, the rewards of these approaches can be astounding. They do however require a measured and disciplined approach, and a commitme… Read More

Buyers Point Interview Dr. Tom DePaoli

(2/21/2013) A Conversation with Dr. Tom DePaoli, Author of Common Sense Supply Management

This month’s featured publication is Common Sense Supply Management – click here to read our review or to order a copy from Amazon.com. Since we have worked with author Dr. Tom DePaoli in the past, we took the opportunity of this new book being out to get an update on his perspective of supply management as a discipline, how social media is affecting the interactive dynamics, and on our role in the larger organization.

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Tom’s work, visit the Common Sense Purchasing and Supply Management website here. You can also read our review of ‘Common Sense Purchasing’ on The Point.

Buyers Meeting Point: Do you have a working definition of ‘Supply Management’ in your mind? What changed in our profession or in your career that caused you to focus this book on supply management after writing Common Sense Purchasing?

Dr. Tom DePaoli: I did have a working definition of supply management when I started the book. I emphasized the relationship aspect. I somewhat agree with the ISM definition. "The identification, acquisition, access, positioning, management of resources and related capabilities the organization needs or potentially needs in the attainment of its strategic objectives." Supply management is much more strategic than the traditional concept of purchasing. Since I have transformed many traditional purchasing organizations into supply management organizations I understand the strategic nature of supply management. The other difference is that in supply management, the relationship building is much more complicated and at multilevels. It is not just a matrix but a multidimensional matrix of relationships! The supply management professional needs versatility and powerful relationship building skills. Their understanding of the business must be broad and well grounded. Their understanding of the many marketplaces, domestic and global, is also essential.

BMP: You give many examples of the benefits of face-to-face interactions, both with suppliers and internal stakeholders. Do you feel that supply management professionals have become too reliant on virtual communication?

Dr. T: At times I believe that they do become too reliant on virtual communication. These are great tools but nothing beats face to face interaction, supplier site visits, in person quality discussions, visiting internal stakeholders and asking for their input, and just going out in the field and asking questions and learning. In my experience, these actions yield a lot more useful data and more importantly encourage collaboration. The issue is always time management and which face to face interactions are critical.

BMP: What trends have you seen with supply management professionals making use of (or missing out on) the benefits of social media?

Dr. T: Supply management professionals need to use social media more to network, share ideas and discuss problems. There are various professional supply management organizations that have running discussions that supply management professionals can participate in and share information. One of the most valuable is asking for help on sourcing especially when you are cold sourcing a new part or service. Supply management professionals will usually give you a good honest answer on a supplier and share their supplier performance data.

BMP: You make the comment that the head of supply management must be at the vice president level (p. 50). When you combine this with the need to get Finance’s sign-off on savings definitions (p. 115), do you feel that Finance is the best organization for supply management to report to, or should we be positioned on the operational side of the business?

Dr. T: Supply management should be independent of the finance organization in a company. They should report directly to the CEO. Finance should sign off on the scorecard that supply management keeps especially around savings. Many financial organizations are still using standard cost techniques instead of activity costing. As you know total cost of ownership savings include many qualitative savings that must be valued fairly. Supply Management is strongly operational; no other internal organization has a bigger impact on the bottom line. We provide the critical tools, resources, services, and parts etc. that make operations possible. Often we control or influence a very large percentage of the cost of goods sold.

About Dr Tom

Dr. Tom DePaoli is an independent management consulting professional with over twenty years of experience in all phases of purchasing, human resources, supply chain optimization, strategic sourcing, organizational re-design, e-commerce, SAP and e-procurement software. Dr. Tom DePaoli has extensive skills in, change management, Lean Six Sigma, reengineering purchasing, supply chain relationships, ISO9000, ERP and comprehensive international logistical expertise. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Dr. Tom wrote a groundbreaking study on pay-for-skills compensation systems for his doctoral degree. He has extensive Human Resources experience and is a SPHR certified for life because of his contributions to the Human Resources profession.

Tom has been published extensively in Manufacturing Engineering Magazine, Purchasing World and Purchasing Today. He has conducted highly rated seminars on Reengineering Purchasing, Coping with Mega-Change, Win-Win Negotiating, Lean Six Sigma, Supply Management, Pay-For-Skill Compensation, Dealing with Technological Change, Motivational Techniques and various human resources topics with a special emphasis on employee empowerment.

De-Mystifying Lean Six Sigma by Dr. Tom DePaoli

De-Mystifying Lean Six Sigma 

Link to my book Common Sense Supply Management http://amzn.to/RCvfPF
De-mystifying Lean Six Sigma (LSS) for Supply Chain and Purchasing Professionals
            Many supply chain and purchasing professionals are intimidated by Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and its proponents. Relax; it is just a disciplined approach to problem solving. It uses many tools that have been around for years and the tools have just been cleverly repackaged by consultants. Decisions are data based, disciplined and plodding. Without top-down commitment, it is doomed to fail. Make sure you secure this executive commitment, and better yet make participation a strong criterion for individual performance reviews (raises). Projects should be selected by ROI and since much time and teams are required for a project, they must return or save at least $300,000 to qualify as a full blown LSS project.
            Supply Chain and purchasing professionals must be involved in sourcing the LSS consultant. Experience is critical and a proven track record of project success essential. Get references and insist on examples of work. Use a fixed hourly rate and make sure all developed training and projects remain your property. You can try to make the contract performance based but many LSS firms will not agree to this. Make the goal to be self-sufficient internally within two years with all LSS training and projects.
            Some projects that have been done in purchasing and the supply chain are: inventory cost, part obsolescence prevention, lead-time reduction, backlogs, unexpected orders, customer service internal and external, cost of schedule changes, transaction flows, cost of return product, and supply chain optimization. Many of these involve process mapping which is a type of flow chart that illustrates how things are done and identifies areas of strength or weakness. LSS is not the only tool that can be used by supply management professionals for improvement. In my experience LSS should be used when the potential savings is great and you have some good data to analyze. If you do not have good data the LSS project will take even longer.  If data is sparse, the Lean approach is much preferred which is highly visual, intuitive and does not require as much data.
            Always Lean a process before your use LSS. By this I mean eliminate any redundant steps in the process that can be easily eliminated first. Reduce the number of variables in the process. Try to understand the voice of the customer (VOC) clearly before your start process improvement. Remember if the customer does not really care or value a process step; ask yourself, “Why are we doing it?”
            Finally use kaizens for straight forward less complicated projects. The kaizen approach is usually done by the work team using the process and strives to eliminate waste in the process. The new kaizen improved process should then be quickly implemented. Supply chain and purchasing professionals must take the leadership role in LSS, Lean and kaizens.  In my professional experience, the rewards of these approaches can be astounding. They do however require a measured and disciplined approach, and a commitment to not giving up!

Biography

Dr. Tom DePaoli is currently the Management Program Director at Marian University in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. He is the Principal (CEO) of Apollo Solutions (www.apollosolutions.us) which does general business consulting in the supply chain, lean six sigma and human resources areas. The company was founded in 1995. Recently he retired from the Navy Reserve after over 30 years of service. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and Lean Six Sigma deployments. He has worked for over 10 major companies and consulted for over 50 organizations throughout my career. Some of his consulting projects included: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He has been involved in many forms of communications including website design, marketing campaigns, political campaigns, radio advertisements, and scripts. He is also the author of:

 Common Sense Purchasing,

 Common Sense Supply Management

and Growing up Italian in the 50s.

They are available on Amazon.com.

Websites include: commonsensepurchasing.com, commonsensesupplymanagement.com and growingupmemories.com.

Buyers Point Interview with Dr. Tom DePaoli

Link to my book Common Sense Supply Management http://amzn.to/RCvfPF

Dr. Tom DePaoli’s book Common Sense Supply Management is the featured publication this month at the website Buyers Meeting Point.  (www.buyersmeetingpoint.com)  here is an excerpt of the review:
“Dr. Tom’s deep experience and long career in the supply management space make this a book best related to by practitioners with some experience in the field rather than a primer for those new to the game. As to which trenches you currently find yourself in: supply chain, procurement, and purchasing professionals in any industry will benefit from Dr. Tom’s experiences and honest retelling of both successes and lessons learned.” In addition Dr. DePaoli was interviewed by Kelly Barner of Buyers Meeting Point.
Book review link:
http://buyersmeetingpoint.com/blogs/bmps-qthe-pointq/entry/book-review-common-sense-supply-management
Interview link:
http://buyersmeetingpoint.com/about-us/latest-news3/609-2-21-2013-a-conversation-with-dr-tom-depaoli-author-of-common-sense-supply-management
Dr. Depaoli is an Assistant Professor, Management, at the School of Business and Public Safety, and has also published Common Sense Purchasing and Growing Up Italian in the 50’s.
All of his books are available on Amazon.com

Amazon Reviews Common Sense Supply Management by Dr. Tom DePaoli

Amazon Reviews Common Sense Supply Management
Link to my book Common Sense Supply Management http://amzn.to/RCvfPF

5.0 out of 5 stars New Book Offers Common Sense Supply Management, February 13, 2013 By  Susan - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) In his new book, Common Sense Supply Management--Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches, Dr. Tom DePaoli shares experiences from his career as a procurement professional and offers how-to-advice for transforming a sourcing operation. The tales consist of easy-to-read short stories on such topics as negotiations, building relationships, benchmarking, supplier relationship management, and e-procurement. In one, DePaoli relates why beating suppliers constantly doesn't work. In another, he explains how managers can earn trust of their employees. A third looks at why women excel at managing relationships with suppliers. "Here's what I've done that works," DePaoli tells My Purchasing Center of the collection that he describes as enjoyable to read. "I tell the story. But I don't give a lesson. Readers can figure it out on their own." DePaoli has spent more than 30 years with the Navy Reserve, and was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and Lean Six Sigma deployments. Now, he is the Management Program Director at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wis. and Principal of Apollo Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in HR, supply chain and Lean Six Sigma. He is also the author of the book Common Sense Procurement. As DePaoli sees it, procurement professionals should be leading change within their organizations--because of all the relationships they manage. "They drive money to the bottom line," he says. The 195-page Common Sense Supply Management also provides all readers need to know to transform a sourcing operation including information on Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma; Kaizen and performance metrics. It has chapters on global sourcing, e-procurement and p-cards, and a glossary of Lean Six Sigma and supply management terms. The book is geared toward procurement professionals at every stage in their career. DePaoli also recommends it to his college students. It's available for $29.95 from Amazon. 5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, September 25, 2012 By Scott Dell (Sister Bay WI US) - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) Any author that can combine "Vulcan Mind Meld" and "Coach Athletic Teams" on the same page (P.34) earns my attention. Dr. Tom Depaoli's story telling manner combines the ability to share insights and lessons in an easily digestible form while providing a relatively painless learning opportunity for the reader. Thank YOU Dr. Tom! 5.0 out of 5 stars Real-world lessons in Supply Chain Management, September 19, 2012 By ermy "ermy" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) Coming from a young professional with graduate degree focus in Supply Chain, I enjoyed Dr. Tom DePaoli's writing. I found several points to be anecdotal to my real-world experiences. This made me realize the validity and value of the contents of this book and showed me how I might have better handled my situations. What was not yet applicable to my career opened my eyes and left me feeling better prepared for what the inevitable. This is a value-add read for the Supply Chain professional. 5.0 out of 5 stars Learn From The Mistakes Of Others, September 19, 2012 By BookLoverRome - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches is a great new business book by author and business man, Dr. Tom DePaoli. Written for supply management, purchasing agents, and other management professionals, the book is full of stories, tips, and "buyers beware." Any business professional could learn something from this book. It is a straight forward read that is enlightening and enjoyable. Highly recommended!! 5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, September 16, 2012 By  scribe - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) Dr. Tom's uses the story teller technique in this book and I felt that it was both pertinent and enlightening. I especially enjoyed the use of baseball to build relationships in Japan. It is obvious that the author loves supply management and wants to help supply management professionals everywhere. This book is a great start if you want to transform a company. 5.0 out of 5 stars Meet your goal and then Go One Step Further, January 30, 2013 By Kelly McCarthy Barner (Shrewsbury, MA United States) - See all my reviews This review is from: Common Sense Supply Management: Tales From The Supply Chain Trenches (Paperback) Two years ago, we posted our review of `Common Sense Purchasing' by Dr. Tom DePaoli. In September 2012 he published a new book that reflects a broader perspective on his experience and our profession. By taking a step up - or back - however you chose to see the difference between purchasing and supply management, Dr. Tom takes a new look at the challenges and opportunities in supply management and presents them by sharing many of his own experiences as an independent management consultant. We'll be delving further into Dr. Tom's perspective in an interview with him in February. His short segment writing format allows the reader to get through a number of mini-cases quickly in the first section of the book titled `Tales from the Supply Management Trenches'. Dr. Tom then spends the remaining chapters of the book taking on one subject at a time in greater depth. There is something for everyone, including Six Sigma, negotiation, governance, bureaucracy, and strategy. Supply management professionals will also appreciate his checklists and glossary of terms. Looking back on Dr. Tom's time spent `in the trenches', I particularly appreciated his desire to meet a goal and then go one step further for the sake of achieving optimal performance. In one of his engagements, he was working with an integrated paper company to transform their purchasing group into a supply management operation. Using Six-sigma methodologies, they reduced workload and errors before completing a successful supplier rationalization effort. Rather than considering the transformation complete just because expectations had been met, he and his team took the additional step of putting a p-card program in place for their `superusers', eliminating nearly all paperwork. Other themes of note include the need to have empathy for suppliers in order to establish collaborative relationships and balancing the importance of social media with the effectiveness of face-to-face communication. Technology has its place somewhere behind enabled people and process. As Dr. Tom puts it, "The procurement must come before the e". Dr. Tom's deep experience and long career in the supply management space make this a book best related to by practitioners with some experience in the field rather than a primer for those new to the game. As to which trenches you currently find yourself in: supply chain, procurement, and purchasing professionals in any industry will benefit from Dr. Tom's experiences and honest retelling of both successes and lessons learned.

Marian Professor Dr. Tom DePaoli Publishes Book

Marian University business professor authors book, Common Sense Supply Management

10/17/2012

October 18, 2012
Link to my book Common Sense Supply Management http://amzn.to/RCvfPF

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - A Marian University business professor recently announced his authorship of a new book that examines the world of supply chain management.
Dr. Tom DePaoli, director of the Management Program in the School of Business & Public Safety, is the author of "Common Sense Supply Management: Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches" that was released in September. In a reader-friendly, storytelling format, the book uses real life examples to discuss what goes right, and often wrong, in the supply chain management trenches.
"Supply management covers more breadth and depth than any other discipline in an organization," said DePaoli. "It is the art of building multiple relationships."
DePaoli's book advances the field of supply management to tackle best practices, Lean Six Sigma and information-based negotiations. He includes an extensive chapter on planning and strategy that prepares the supply management professionals for his multi-dimensional approach to suppliers, offers proven tactics for testing and sourcing suppliers and discusses the possible pitfalls of using international sourcing.
DePaoli earned his doctoral degree California Coast University, and his master's degree in management from the University of Notre Dame Graduate School of Business. DePaoli has published extensively, with previous publications including "Common Sense Purchasing."
For more information, contact Dr. Tom DePaoli at tmdepaoli76@marianuniversity.edu or by phone at 920-923-8531.

Press Release Common Sense Supply Management by Dr. Tom DePaoli

Common Sense Supply Management - Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches

In this hard hitting and unorthodox guide to supply management, Dr. Tom DePaoli shares the business lessons learned by engaging the reader with his tales from the supply chain management trenches.

Sheboygan, WI, November 07, 2012 (PressReleasePoint) -- In this hard hitting and unorthodox guide to supply management, Dr. Tom DePaoli shares the business lessons learned by engaging the reader with his tales from the supply chain management trenches.

With this approach to supply management, he offers no-nonsense strategies learned from his diverse career in many organizations. Told in part via a story format, Common Sense Supply Management - Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches uses real life examples to discuss what goes right, and often wrong, in the supply chain management trenches. The stories are told factually without any embellishing notes to distract the reader. By carefully following this book’s accounts, supply management professionals can learn a career’s worth of what to do and what not to do. DePaoli provides practical lessons launched from real-life cases and tested in the unforgiving supply chain management reality.

Like many good business leaders, the author places business relationships first and foremost in his guide. “Supply management covers more breadth and depth than any other discipline in an organization,” says DePaoli. “It is the art of building multiple relationships.”

His book advances to tackle best practices, Lean Six Sigma, and information-based negotiations. He includes an extensive chapter on planning and strategy that prepares the reader for his multi-dimensional approach to suppliers, offers proven tactics for testing and sourcing suppliers, and is candid about the possible pitfalls of using international sourcing. A stickler for robust, data-driven decisions, he shows the sorts of metrics supply managers should be tracking. He discusses a range of computer-based tools that allow professionals to conduct their business. He warns managers about adopting slick-looking technologies that remain incompatible with an organization’s culture.

He remains convinced that his story-telling strategy will allow readers to learn more than what any textbook offers. “Some of the stories are good management lessons,” says DePaoli. “Others are the result of having great people work for me and teamwork, while some are the result of just hard work and massive amounts of tough homework.” Supply chain management continues to form the backbone of most companies. Knowing how to orchestrate its complexity can give an organization a strong competitive edge. The supply managers who are willing to take the journey and possess the indomitable spirit necessary to succeed will greatly benefit from this unorthodox but powerful guide. Dr. DePaoli has previously published Common Sense Purchasing and Growing Up Italian in the 50s both also available on Amazon.com

Contact Us:
Title: Common Sense Supply Management
Subtitle: Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches
Author: Dr. Tom DePaoli website = www.commonsensesupplymanagment.com
Email: drtomd@gmail.com
Publisher: Createspace via Amazon.com
ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-1477686454 (CreateSpace-Assigned) SBN-10: 1477686452
Pages: 202
Published: September 2012
Genre: Business
Retail Price: $29.95
Common Sense Supply Management - Tales from the Supply Chain Trenches