Amanda Baldwin

Special Guest Blog Post written by Bernadine Henderson Ms. Henderson, senior director of procurement at Protolabs, lifts the lid on buying in manufacturing and why relationships are central to it.   Simply put, the job of a buyer is really about buying the right thing at the right time for the right price. It sounds simple, but it really is very complicated because everything that’s going on in the world impacts the timing, the availability, and the price of the product. This means that buying has recently got a lot more complicated. World events have very real consequences on global supply chains. Just one example is the way in which buyers have responded to tariffs in the U.S. by re-routing sourcing locations. It takes a certain amount of agility to be a buyer in 2025, and this quick responsiveness is helped along by one key ingredient, and that is strong relationships with suppliers. Relationships Built on Trust A widely held misconception is that buyers are only interested in getting to the lowest price possible. In fact, the most important thing to a buyer is for suppliers to bring solutions that deliver overall value. In my experience, a really strong supplier…

Step up your supply chain strategy by checking out all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! On Monday, we released 2 new episodes! On this episode of Supply Chain Now, hosts Scott and Greg welcome Nicci Scott with Commercial Transport Academy and Jenny Froome with SAPICS for the next installment of the Supply Chain Across Africa series. On This Week in Business History, host Scott W. Luton sheds light on 3 historical milestones that enabled us to move faster: cars, coasters, & computers. On Tuesday, we released 2 new episodes! On this episode of TEK TOK, host Karin Bursa takes us through 6 strategies to boost resilience, agility, and response in your organization’s supply chain. On TECHquila Sunrise, we’re looking back on a “Sunrise Special” episode where host Greg White shares how venture capitalists decide which companies to invest in (and how much!). On Wednesday, host Scott Luton welcomed Deborah Dull, Supply Chain Product Management at GE Digital, and Mucai Kunyiha, Chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and Group Chief Executive Officer of Kzanaka Ltd, to the podcast. On Thursday, we released a replay of our Manufacturing Monday edition of…