by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | Jul 17, 2026 | Featured, News
For the first time in months, procurement teams got a piece of news they’ve been waiting for. The June ISM Manufacturing PMI showed the Prices Index falling 9.1 percentage points, the largest one-month decline since July 2022. At first glance, that’s...
by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | Jun 30, 2026 | Featured, News
The Strait of Hormuz is reopening. Procurement teams should be relieved! They should also be careful. After nearly four months of disruption, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding. Commercial vessels are moving again. More than twenty ships...
by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | Jun 19, 2026 | Featured, News
For the past several months, procurement teams have been fixated on a single question: What happens next in the Strait of Hormuz? It’s a fair question. The conflict has disrupted energy markets, freight routes, commodity pricing, and supplier planning across...
by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | May 29, 2026 | Featured, News
Over the weekend, President Trump posted that a deal with Iran is “largely negotiated” and would be announced shortly. Oil markets reacted immediately, with Brent crude falling as much as 5% to around $98. But within hours, the signal became less clear. Iranian state...
by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | May 8, 2026 | Direct Materials Sourcing, Featured, News
Nine weeks into what is now the largest energy supply disruption in recorded history, the question procurement teams are asking has changed. It’s no longer “when does this normalize?” It’s “what does our cost structure look like if it...
by Mary Ruth Williamson, CEO | Apr 24, 2026 | Direct Materials Sourcing, Featured, News
A real-time view of supply chain risk is no longer optional. Over the past two weeks, global supply chains have entered a more fragile and reactive state driven by geopolitical escalation risk, shifting freight dynamics, and tightening commodity signals. For...
