Federico Gomez

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…

Get Ready to increase your supply chain IQ! We’ve got all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams right here from Supply Chain Now this week. On Saturday, Supply Chain Now hosts Scott Luton, Greg White, and Jamin Alvidrez share their perspective on the industry, top business challenges, and what their priorities are.   On Monday, Fred Tolbert, Principal at Southeast Demand Solutions in Marietta Georgia, joined the Supply Chain Now team for a recent livestream to discuss the pandemic, the latest supply chain industry news, and what new developments we can expect to see going forward.   On Tuesday’s podcast episode, Stephanie Stuckey of Stuckey’s Corporation joined us for our Full Access series to share her professional journey.   On Wednesday, Scott welcomed Shan Muthuvelu and Steffanie Ness with UCBOS to talk about the convergence of retail and eCommerce supply chains as well as the importance of metadata   On Thursday, David Shillingford with Resilience360 joined us on the Supply Chain Buzz to discuss the top news in supply chain with Scott & Greg.   And our final episode this week Polly Mitchell-Guthrie and Patrick Van with Kinaxis join us too talk about what true supply chain resilience looks…