BRISTOL, Pa., Oct. 15, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SDI, North America’s leading supply chain management company focused on MRO, recently participated in WBR’s 2015 ProcureCon Indirect West conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The event from September 28th – 30th saw 350 strategy–level procurement executives learning how to improve supplier relationships, integrate strategic suppliers into their organization and incorporating new technology into their solutions mix. ProcureCon Indirect provides market insights into best practice strategies for procurement transformation and the evolution from straight sourcing and purchasing of indirect goods and services to delivering strategic cost savings and value creation.

This year, the ProcureCon Indirect West conference included a CPO Network track. The CPO Network’s mission is to develop a strategic agenda for the evolving role of the chief procurement officer. Thirty chief procurement officers from the world’s largest corporations spent one day during ProcureCon Indirect West deliberating vital issues that impact procurement leaders and their companies – becoming a better CPO, developing a comprehensive risk management program, overcoming challenges involving big data and analytics and locating and grooming future leaders. As part of the CPO Network, WBR Digital is conducting a third-party verified research effort. The resulting report will be an industry leading research effort focused on the C-Level in procurement and sourcing. The research includes both a survey to 30-35+ CPO’s and interviews on the analysis of the survey. SDI was proud to be a sponsor of the CPO Network at this year’s event and the subsequent whitepaper on the data findings. WBR and SDI anticipate releasing this research before the end of November.

SDI was also proud to be a part of the speaker line-up at this year’s ProcureCon Indirect West. Director of Strategic Sourcing, Kurt Meiers, presented on the trend in procurement towards an as-a-service model, blending people and technology to deliver sustainable value. Much like cloud-based software that allows end-users to just access the tools they need and start receiving immediate value, the as-a-service model for MRO supply chain management allows service buyers to plug into not only technology, but established infrastructure and expertise as well – in the process, removing unnecessary complexity, reducing risk and creating efficiencies, to help businesses become more flexible and agile.

“There’s really been an evolution that’s occurring in the outsourcing space, and over time, it’s been stigmatized as simply a labor arbitrage play,” said Meiers. “But what we see going on in the marketplace is a move towards as-a-service to adapt to changing consumer and business demands. In SDI’s case: MRO Supply-Chain-as-a-Service. It happens when service providers commit to delivering real value, beyond just cost savings, and work together with service buyers to expand their perspective.”

Watch the full presentation here: http://www.sdi.com/resources/videos/innovating-tomorrow-mro-supply-chain-service

About SDI:

By helping organizations understand how each link in their MRO supply chain impacts the entire enterprise, SDI helps them achieve year-over-year savings, enterprise-wide efficiencies and newfound control. Using a custom suite of products, services and tools, SDI’s platform coordinates, aligns and optimizes every step of the MRO indirect process. Lower costs, smarter inventories and increased performance are all natural results from a more connected MRO supply chain. To learn more visit sdi.com today.

CONTACT: Debra Yorkman
         VP of Marketing for SDI
         [email protected]