President's Article "Serving our Members with purpose and passion..." By George F. Nagy, C.P.M., President NAPM-Orange County, Inc. Affiliated with the Institute of Supply Management

The economy does not appear to be bouncing back as quickly or as certainly as we had all hoped. In this economic environment as companies struggle to remain profitable, or just to remain in business, the purchasing professional is a valuable asset and resource of new ideas and strategies. By “thinking outside of the box,” a purchasing professional has an opportunity to make even greater contributions to their company.

I am not suggesting abandoning the skills and techniques of sound purchasing practices or methods. Rather, reconfiguring those processes and recombining them into more successful problem solving solutions. We have the ability to examine what we are doing, to evaluate how the process is working and determine what we can do to make it better. Where can we find additional material savings or improve contract terms? Can we negotiate better payment methods, find more beneficial logistical solutions or give our company advantages in other ways?

I encourage you to look at the way you are doing business, examine “the status quo.” How are you servicing your internal and external customers? Develop success strategies using your own experience and the resources available from your association. This requires insight, analysis and a determined team effort.

The educational offerings of our association’s dinner meetings are designed to give you brief insights into what is out there, what others are doing and possibly what additional education you may wish to seek. While this executive summary of a subject tends to be brief and fast-paced, we try to stuff as much practical information as we can into an hour. This does not negate its value regardless of the level of your purchasing skills.

I wish you all good-value hunting and much success as you think outside of that box.