APRIL 2016 CANADA’S SUPPLY MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE MRP’S NEXT EVOLUTION Demand Driven Materials Requirements Planning roundtable The rise of autonomous vehicles Courier services PB2B_Apr2016_issue_AMS_V2.indd 1 2016-04-14 2:36 PM Staples page 2 Make More Happen Safety in the sun. At Staples Business Advantage™, we know heat protection takes priority. From safety vests and cool drinks to sunscreen and eye protection, we have everything you need to keep your employees cool and safe all summer long. Ready to get started? We’ll take $ * 50 off your first order of $300 or more. *Minimum spend of $300 before tax on first order to qualify. Must be a new Staples Business Advantage customer. Other conditions apply. Visit StaplesBusinessAdvantage.ca/new Purchasing_Staples_April.inddPB2B_Apr2016_issue_AMS_V2.indd 1 2 2016-04-112016-04-14 1:352:36 PM Vol. 58, No. 2 • APRIL 2016 Table of Contents 10 COURIER SERVICES Tips for saving money on courier services 10 and small package delivery. 12 BUYING SAFETY Advice for purchasing security systems. 15 THE NEXT STEP IN MRP Roundtable participants weigh in on Demand Driven Materials Requirements Planning. 22 MRO BUYING Is there more procurement should know ©shutterstock about maintenance, repair and operations? 15 Also inside 4 UP FRONT 8 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT 5 BUSINESS FRONT 25 IN THE FIELD 7 FINANCE CORNER 26 WTHE LA Make More Happen 24 Supplement inside: © ©Roger Yip Photography © ©Roger Yip Safety in the sun. Connect With Us Online We encourage you to visit us online to stay in touch ™ with what’s happening in your industry and to .ca At Staples Business Advantage , we know heat protection takes priority. From safety vests and PurchasingB2B.ca @PurchasingB2B Michael Power view enhanced articles. cool drinks to sunscreen and eye protection, we have everything you need to keep your employees cool and safe all summer long. Features WHAT IN SAM HILL? CPO SUMMIT 2016 A look at free software Watch for PurchasingB2B’s coverage of the asset management Chief Procurement Officer Summit 2016 Ready to get started? (SAM) engagement. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We’ll take $ * MOBILE PROCUREMENT 50 off Accenture study finds that 86 percent of your first order of $300 or more. b2b organizations will focus on mobile in the coming years. *Minimum spend of $300 before tax on first order to qualify. Must be a new Staples Business Advantage customer. Other conditions apply. PurchasingB2B Weekly eNewsletter Sign up today for regular industry news and insights. Visit StaplesBusinessAdvantage.ca/new ©adam121–Fotolia www.PurchasingB2B.ca/e-newsletter-subscription PurchasingB2B.ca | April 2016 | 3 Purchasing_Staples_April.indd 1 2016-04-11 1:35 PM PB2B_Apr2016_issue_AMS_V2.indd 3 2016-04-14 2:36 PM Up Front 80 VALLEYBROOK DRIVE TORONTO, ONTARIO M3B 2S9 www.PurchasingB2B.ca PUBLISHER/ADVERTISING SALES Dorothy Jakovina 416-510-6899, [email protected] Innovate EDITOR Michael Power Or else! 416-442-5600 ext 3259, [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Andrea M. Smith nnovation ranks high among business buzzwords these days. At least to me, the word ACCOUNT COORDINATOR brings up images of doing things better, faster, leaner, cheaper, et cetera. I also think Tracey Hanson I of improved technology use. 416-510-6762, [email protected] It’s a theme I hear often when talking to people across various industries. I recently CIRCULATION MANAGER talked to Barrie Kirk, from the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence Barbara Adelt 416-442-5600 x 3546, [email protected] (CAVCOE) about driverless cars. You can read a story highlighting our conversation on page 4 of our Canadian Automotive Review (CAR) supplement in this issue. ANNEX PRINTING & PUBLISHING INC. In the not-too-distant future, Kirk sees the confluence of autonomous vehicles (AVs) VICE-PRESIDENT: T im Dimopoulos (416)510-5100, with other innovative vehicle technologies, namely hydrogen power and vehicle con- [email protected] PRESIDENT & CEO: Mike Fredericks, [email protected] nectivity (the so-called connected car). Also, at the Canadian Aboriginal & Minority Suppliers Council (CAMSC) Diversity For over 57 years, PurchasingB2B has been a trusted source of Procurement Fair on April 12-13, Jahan Ali, CEO of mobileLIVE, spoke in an edu- information for Canadian purchasing/supply chain management professionals in the private and public sectors. Special features cation session about innovations involving the Internet of Everything (IoE), Artificial and supplements include Fleet Management, Canadian Automotive Intelligence (AI), big data and omni-channel coming together to provide us with a con- Review (CAR), PurchasingB2G, and Travel Management Canada. sumer experience we only dreamed of just a few years ago PurchasingB2B is published six times a year, except for occasional These changes are, apparently, much closer than many of us realize. Kirk notes that combined, expanded or premium issues which count as two subscrip- by 2015, AVs could account for the bulk of our taxi trips. Meanwhile, Ali said that by tion issues, by Annex Business Media. 2018 there will be 22 billion IoT devices out there. © Contents of this publication are protected and may not be Often, such changes are an answer to challenges that arise in our daily lives. reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the publisher or editor. Certainly, procurement professionals know that the supply chain has gotten faster and NOTICE: PurchasingB2B accepts no responsibility or liability for claims more complex in recent years. made for any product or service reported or advertised in this issue. To look at solutions for this trend, we recently took a look at a relatively new meth- PurchasingB2B receives unsolicited materials including letters to the odology to handle inventory during a roundtable conversation we held on March editor, press releases, promotional items and images from time to time.PurchasingB2B, its affiliates and assignees may use, reproduce, 10 in partnership with SYSPRO Canada. Demand Driven Materials Requirements publish, re-publish, distribute, store and archive such unsolicited Planning (DDMRP), the topic of our roundtable discussion, provides a new way of submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensation of any sort. dealing with the MRP process. You can read the report on the discussion beginning on p. 15. The methodology SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: To subscribe, renew your subscription, or to change your address or information, contact us at 416-510-5713 or provides procurement professionals with an innovative way to forecast inventory that’s 1-866-543-7888, ext 3258, [email protected], or visit us at designed to remove some of the distractions from the daily lives of procurement profes- www.PurchasingB2B.ca. Subscription price per year: $99.95 CDN; Outside Canada per year: $172.95 US; Single issue Canada: $18 CDN. sionals. Certainly, that strikes me as innovative. Annual Supply Chain Survey issue, Canada: $45; Outside Canada: $70 Change is all around us these days, and it’s more important than ever to innovate. US. Taxes extra. According to the Conference Board of Canada (as of 2013), Canada ranked 13th From time to time we make our subscription list available to select among 16 countries in innovation. Countries that are more innovative are passing us companies and organizations whose product or service may interest on income per capita, productivity and the quality of social programs. you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: It’s up to us to keep up with new methodologies, advancing technology and so on Phone: 1-800-668-2374, Fax: 416-442-2200 lest we’re left behind. Mail to: Privacy Officer, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Printed in Canada. ISSN: 1497-1569 (print); 1929-6479 (digital) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40065710 We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada 4 | April 2016 | PurchasingB2B.ca PB2B_Apr2016_issue_AMS_V2.indd 4 2016-04-14 2:36 PM Business Front Toronto-based Regulation Michael Hlinka provides business commentary in the sharing to CBC Radio One and a column syndicated economy across the CBC network. By Michael Hlinka consider myself a child of the 1960s. I was born blog called The People Who Share to get the skivvy. According to them, in 1958 into a household that most would char- the name sort of gives it away. The sharing economy is nothing more and I acterize as being extremely conservative. My not less than people co-operatively coming together and sharing resources, father owned his own small business. He was a hard in order that they are used more efficiently. It’s an interesting development. worker and diligent saver. My mother stayed at home Part of the ideology is Hippie-inspired. But there’s also a much more prag- until my older sister and I were both in high school. matic, bottom-line realization that in an economy where growth is slowing, (Back in those days, at least in my neighbourhood, it makes hard-core business sense to use resources as productively as possible. it was common practice for public school children One of the outputs of the sharing economy is the transportation service to go home for lunch.) There wasn’t anything in my Uber. There is a clear divide about how it’s seen by politicians and the pub- upbringing that could have been considered the least lic. Politicians hate it. The city council in my hometown, Toronto, is doing bit radical, or anti-authoritarian. everything it can to put it out of business. People, on the other hand, love That being said, everyone in North America was it, voting with their wallets and cellphones to direct business to it and away impacted by the hippie phenomenon. Its ethos was from the traditional taxi and limousine services that are both heavily regu- “do your own thing”, that is, as long as you weren’t lated and highly taxed (in the form of required licenses).