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October

Meetings

Salt Lake City Pro-D and Dinner Meeting

Thu, Oct 11th at 4:30pm

Topic: Mitigating Risk in the Supply Chain

Date/Time: Thu, Oct 11th, 2012 at 4:30pm

County: Salt Lake County

Location: Red Lion Hotel - 161 W. 600 S. SLC, UT

RSVP Through c-vent ASAP

Central Utah Branch Luncheon

Wed, Oct 17th at 11:45am

Topic: Mitigating Risk in the Supply Chain

Date/Time: Wed, Oct 17th, 2012 at 11:45am

County: Utah County

Location: LaQuinta Inn in Provo - 1460 South University Ave.

Speaker: Ben Fullmer - IM Flash

Inside this issue:

October Meetings 1

Presidents Message 2

Central Utah Branch

Director Message

3

Speaker Bios 4

Salt Lake City

Dinner Meeting

5

Article 6

Christmas Party 7

Newsletter 8

October 2012 Utah Purchasing News

ISM-UTAH Board

Greg Adams, President

Michael Bernard Vice President

Marge Taylor, Secretary

Bob Mooney, Treasurer

Central Utah Branch Director

Paul Buckner

Edith Rodriguez, Past President

Board Members:

Gordon Wells

Jackie Cook

Luan Green

Chris Thackeray

Janae Nietzel

Cody Muirborook

Purchasing Newsletter

ISM-Utah President’s Message

October 2012

In the past two weeks I have been in negotiations with a company which has provided some interesting in-

sights for thought, particularly in communication style and technique.

In this case, I have been communicating with this firm’s VP of Sales. This person seems to understand a variety

of communication skills and techniques. He is a good listener, doing so with the intent to understand and then

seeks for solutions. I have been impressed with his style and technique. Some of which are pointed out by Dr.

Stuart Diamond in his book “Getting More”.

In the book, Dr. Diamond provides the following thoughts regarding being a good communicator. “ Here are

the basic components of effective communication: (1) always communicate, (2) listen and ask questions, (3)

value, don’t blame them, (4) summarize often, (5) do role reversal, (6) be dispassionate, (7) articulate goals, (8)

be firm without damaging the relationship, (9) look for small signals, (10) discuss perceptual differences, (11)

find out how they make commitments, (12) consult before deciding, (13) focus on what you can control, and

(14) avoid debating who is right.”

Wow, with a list like that it may take a lifetime to master all the principles and techniques. Though, I must ad-

mit that I am grateful for a list because it can be used as a guide with which we can evaluate our own commu-

nication style(s).

Let’s look for a moment at basic component number two (Listen and Ask questions). Deeper into the book Dr.

Diamond indicates that questions are more powerful than statements. Have you thought about that much?

How can a question be more powerful than a statement? Aren’t we empowered when we make statements?

He purports that we can learn more by asking questions, which often times leads to new and even more bene-

ficial solutions/value than originally anticipated.

So, back to my story. During my communication with the VP of Sales one of the sales representatives assisting

the VP said that their company only had an interest in one small portion of our business. I could have easily

said OK. But a question came to mind, ask the VP of Sales if they were interested in more business above and

beyond the small portion in return for a price concession? (Question off the record, have you known a VP of

Sales to turn down more business?) And you guessed it, the VP jumped at the opportunity. Asking questions

helps to focus our attention during the listening process. In your communications, you may find yourself, as I

often do, developing responses rather than creating questions. Consider formulating and asking a question

instead.

Would you like more information to assist you in the decision making process? Would you like to strengthen

your business relationship with the supplier? Would you like to Get More in your business deals? Asking

questions could help you further accomplish your goals. Greg Adams –President

Presidents Message


Central Utah Branch Director Message

October 2012

I attended a conference a few weeks ago and the focus of the seminar was the principles outlined in the

book “Talent Is Overrated”. The main premise of this book was that while certain people may be born with

natural gifts and talents, no one is given world class ability from birth. That level of achievement must be

earned through not only practice but deliberate practice. The two areas most associated with talent, espe-

cially innate talent, is sports and music. Examples cited in the book that are usually best quoted for the be-

lief of God given talent from birth are Tiger Woods and Mozart. Most believe these individuals were en-

dowed from on high with special gifts that none of us could ever hope to emulate. While the book does not

totally dismiss the premise of natural, innate talent, it does illustrate the concept that we all can reach much

higher levels that we currently have attained.

To make a long book short, Tiger Woods for example was put in a high chair at the age of 6 months old

and watched his father hit scores of golf balls into a net in their garage. This early pattern of cognizant, vis-

ual learning is well documented as having a great affect on youth. He was taken to the golf course at the

age of 2 and began putting and playing with his father who had mastered the game himself and was quite a

good teacher and golfer. Tiger Woods was the son of his father’s second wife and his father had already

raised children form a first marriage so he had the benefit we all wish we had in raising our children in

learning from our mistakes and having the chance to correct them. In short Tiger Woods was exposed to

the game long before most of us are and was given the opportunity to excel and develop his talent. This

pattern holds true for most great athletes and anytime one is asked how that level of achievement is at-

tained, hard work is almost always the answer. The rule of thumb for world class development is 5 hours of

deliberate practice each day. The Mozart history was very similar to the Tiger Woods story just in the musi-

cal arena.

The book then went into how we can develop superior talent at our jobs as opposed to sports or music.

The whole concept was based on the definition of “deliberate practice”. That definition focused on the con-

cept of picking out a weakness we have and focusing and working on that weakness until it becomes

strength. When most of us practice at something we do the things we enjoy and already do well. For ex-

ample when we hit a bucket of golf balls at the driving range we typically use the clubs we are comfortable

with and already hit well. If we really wanted to get better we would pick out our worst club and hit 10 buck-

ets of balls until that club became a strength for us. This was the basis of the entire book.

As I thought about that concept in the workplace I realized the same principles apply. We can become bet-

ter employees by focusing on areas of weakness and practicing on those areas until they become our

strengths. We can become better at analytics or customer relations. We can become more adept at ven-

dor relations or developing strategic sourcing teams. We can improve on core competencies that allow us

to expand our talents which ultimately benefit our organizations. If we will seek to improve ourselves

through deliberate practice, looking for areas of weakness and focusing on those areas until they are

strengths, we can achieve much more than what we are currently achieving. We may be doing a great job

currently but we can do better. I appreciate the opportunity to work and serve as the Utah county director of

ISM. I enjoy our monthly meetings and look forward to a wonderful year ahead. If I can do anything for

you please let me know. Have a great month and I will see you on Wednesday October 17th!

Paul Buckner,




ISM-Utah Pro Development Discussion on Risk Management

Ben Fullmer – CPM Rick Adams – CPM

Ben Fullmer is the Capital and Spares

Purchasing Manager at IM Flash

Technologies, a joint venture formed

in 2006 by two semiconductor leaders

Intel and Micron. He earned his Ac-

counting degree at BYU-ID and sub-

sequently his CPM.

Since joining IMFT, Ben has either led

or co-led numerous strategic pro-

grams and activities for the Lehi, UT

site and various other global Micron

facilities. He enjoys playing basket-

ball, tennis, golf, and most of all

spending time with his family.

Rick Adams covers the source portion of the SCOR model for Gartner cli-ents. Mr. Adams has over 20 years of experience as a sourcing and procure-ment professional, primarily focused on improving supply chain perfor-mance. He has extensive experience in sourcing and supplier development in global markets and in working with cross-functional product introduction teams. He works closely with clients to communicate effective supply man-agement strategies around areas in-cluding procurement, strategic sourc-ing, contract management, supplier collaboration, supplier performance and risk man-agement.

Mr. Adams has over 20 years experience as a supply chain practitioner, holding posi-tions of buyer, senior buyer, purchasing agent, purchasing manager, commodity man-ager and director of sourcing. His practitioner expertise includes implementing strate-gic sourcing programs, introducing new supply management technologies, and new product introduction.

Speaker Bios


Salt Lake City September Dinner Meeting

Last Meeting...

Article

Vendor Management Many years ago at the University of Utah, the transition from the term system to the semester sys-

tem forced us to re-examine our vendor relationships. Essentially, we had three national vendors and

three terms, offering each an even opportunity to participate in our market. When that contracted to

two semesters, some hard decisions and evaluation were in order. I learned some valuable points in

this process from a respected supervisor, Russ Messerly. They fall into five categories that I can iden-

tify.

First, Seek balance between commitments and competition. Your vendor will expect some commit-

ment to them. You will of course, expect them to help support your business but do not simply ac-

cept the prices offered. Carefully manage your bids.

Second, Share information with your vendors. They should be familiar with your goals and some key

elements of your business intelligence. They can be invaluable when included in some of your own

strategy meetings. Why not capitalize on additional expertise that is not in house? This is of course ,

limited and time specific to meet the needs of your business cycle without giving carte blanch to your

vendors.

Third, Create partnerships for the long haul. Strong vendors make strong partners so resist the temp-

tation to get short term transient gains at the expense of a valuable partnership and the added value

that they bring. Constant rotating of sources limits useful cooperation and makes it difficult for ven-

dors to see fit to go the extra mile. This also means that you need to understand the fundamentals of

their business as well.

Fourth, Look for a win-win in negotiations. If it is understood that both of you are in business to

make money, negotiations can center on principles that let both sides meet their goals successfully.

Fifth, Focus relentlessly on value and remember that lowest price may mean lowest quality.

David Jones

General Manager, PJ’s College Books

Article Page 7


Christmas Party! This is going to be really cool. Many thanks to all those who put this together!

Where:

Desert Star Playhouse 4861 South State, Murray

When:

December 13, 2012 The play starts at 6 pm. They start seating at 5:30, but you must arrive by 5:45

Food will be around $10.00 if you choose to eat there. To see a menu first, go to:

www.desertstar.biz

The best parking is in the rear and there is some on State Street.

Price to be announced.

There are only 60 seats purchased in advance. Seating is on a first

come first serve basis!

Christmas Party

http://www.desertstar.biz


Newsletter

The usefulness of this publication will be depend in large part on how much

we are willing to share our professional expertise with each other. As I read

over the previous editions, I can see that there is extraordinary talent in

this organization. This is why I joined the ISM and why I am exited to partic-

ipate. My contact information is below. Please offer advice, articles and in-

formation for us to share!

Thanks!

David Jones

General Manager PJ’s College Books

Nebraska Book Company Business Unit 228

Taylorsville, Utah 84118

[email protected]

Work 801-966-5800

Cell 801-953-8062

Newletter

May 2012 Utah Purchasing News

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