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The Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined to 52.6 index points in November from the solid 60.9 points recorded in October. The decline comes after three consecutive upward moves and brings the index to the lowest level since July 2020.

While still signalling an improvement in business conditions, the drop suggests that the manufacturing sector's recovery is starting to lose momentum. This was to be expected as output levels for many subsectors are nearing pre-pandemic levels and will need sustained growth in demand to fuel a further output expansion, noted the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) in statement.

By Stephen Bauld

The COVID-19 pandemic looks like it is entering the next phase. We could be looking at a long time before we get back to the new normal and leadership in procurement will help to shape the wellbeing of organisations moving forward.

The argument that organisations need to begin now to train their next generation of leaders is not intended to suggest that a programme of study will produce leaders that are great. Although it can be stated with some confidence that the systematic study of leadership will produce leaders who are better than they would be without it, great leadership is a very difficult thing.

Following a robust increase in August 2020, the Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) ticked up further to 58.3 index points in September. The shift to a lower lockdown level mid-month likely drove the further improvement in business conditions in the local manufacturing sector.

However, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) cautioned that the fact that the level of the PMI is now above pre-pandemic levels does not directly translate to official manufacturing activity being back to pre-pandemic levels.

"Owing to the month-on-month comparison asked for in the PMI questionnaire, the high level merely means that conditions continue to improve (with more respondents reporting an increase in output, for example, instead of no change or a decline compared to the previous month). This can still be entirely consistent with the level of output remaining well below that recorded prior to the lockdown", said the BER.

By Ian Holcroft

As you move forward with your career, remember that it is not just about the number of connections that you have - it is about the quality of your connections. As the old adage goes: it is not about what you know, but who you know.

As the majority of us spend more time working from home in the 'new normal', being connected is more important than ever.

Right now, as the COVID-19 pandemic takes its toll on jobs, consumer spending and the global economy, many businesses are scrambling to adjust to a new financial reality. They are also coming to terms with the fact that the path to recovery remains long and mostly uncertain. Experts, including Deloitte, predict that the United States (US) economy will not bounce back until mid-2021. The Bank of England is anticipating slower recovery, as late as the end of 2021, for the United Kingdom (UK).

Within organisations, the Chief Financial Officer's (CFO) voice is one of the most critical during a crisis. But contributing directly to a firm's financial resilience is the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), who has a strategic role in leading a firm through the tough times ahead.

Spend Matters spoke with a CFO who has many years of experience across corporate finance and public accounting, and is currently the CFO of spend management firm Jaggaer. Spend Matters asked Jeff Laborde how he sees Procurement and Finance best working together to drive benefits across a business, given their natural overlap in priorities and responsibilities.

In late July, Digital Procurement World (DPW) brought together some of the world's most progressive chief procurement officers (CPOs) for a virtual roundtable discussion on how the ever-changing digital environment can help procurement challenge the status quo and design operating models that deliver both innovation and value.

Matthias Gutzmann, Founder of DPW, gives us the key takeaways from this discussion:

By Gordon Reid with input from Mieka Cleghorn, SA Managing Director, Transparent

As a semi-retired business executive, and after spending the past twenty plus years working for some of South Africa's leading companies, the COVID-19 lockdown has afforded me valuable time for some serious thinking.

Many businesses will need to change the way they operate to remain afloat. Useful insights and lessons from company closures will undoubtedly surface in time, but for now we should focus on the future and what can be done now to keep our businesses running.

The intention of this article is to stimulate discussion, thought and imagination with a view to developing a roadmap to traverse the rocky road to economic survival post-COVID-19.

The Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for July 2020 declined slightly compared with June, but continued to signal a further month-on-month improvement for conditions in the manufacturing sector. The PMI declined to 51.2 index points in July, from 53.9 in June, thereby staying above the neutral 50-point mark for a third consecutive month. This suggests that official manufacturing output should still reflect a month-on-month improvement in activity, but that levels are stabilising and that July's increase is likely to be significantly less than those signalled by the PMI in May and June.

SmartProcurement has joined forces with SAPICS to offer Africa's largest-ever online event for supply chain and procurement professionals.

Africa Supply Chain in Action takes place on 19 and 20 August 2020. It is expected to bring together more than 1 000 supply chain and procurement professionals.

The Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for June 2020 showed that conditions continued to improve in the South African manufacturing sector. This is after most of the sector came to a near standstill during the nationwide Level 5 lockdown in April 2020 and only partially returned to normal production levels in May 2020.

The headline PMI rose further to 53.9 index points in June, up from 50.2 in May.

Importantly, while the headline PMI rose to a multi-year high, this does not mean that the level of actual manufacturing production rose to a multi-year high. "Instead, the further rise in June merely means that a solid month-on-month increase was likely recorded", said the Bureau for Economic Research (BER).

Do we need to fundamentally re-imagine what our procurement eco-system looks like? Ian Thompson, Regional Head at Ivalua, thinks so and here is why...

The Business Activity Index of the Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey crashed to an all-time low of a mere 5.1 index points in April 2020. The decline means that manufacturing output came to a near standstill during the nationwide lockdown, with almost all respondents reporting a decline in activity compared to the previous month.

What kind of future-ready procurement leader is needed to survive a rapidly-changing business world? Only a few months ago, the stock market was looking strong and the ongoing trade war between China and the United States indicated future pressure on global supply chains. No one could have predicted that schools and universities would close, companies would tell their employees to work from home and people would be stockpiling toilet paper, of all things.

By Michael Healy, Supply Chain Partner

The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced companies to get creative about how they connect and meet with customers and teams.

Working with cloud applications allows us to workshop, design and configure systems remotely. With apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, working remotely can be easy and cost effective. But making it a positive and productive experience for everyone joining in does take some planning.

Here is a checklist from Supply Chain Partner to help you get the most out of your remote sessions:

To support supply chain professionals and to ensure that they have the resources they need to maintain supply chains during the coronavirus crisis, supply chain management professional body SAPICS has launched a number of special support initiatives to aid the profession. This includes a supply chain management toolkit, helpline and collaboration platform.

During Quarter 1 of 2020, the seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) experienced its weakest quarterly performance since 2009. The PMI averaged at 45.9 index points, compared with 47.6 in Quarter 4 of 2019.

The weak quarterly outcome was despite the PMI improving to 48.1 index points in March 2020, from 44.3 index points in February. Nonetheless, the PMI still remained in contractionary terrain for the 14th consecutive month.

By Dr Marcell Vollmer, Chief Digital Officer, SAP Ariba

How does a Chief Procurement Officer measure success?
In the past, executives responsible for sourcing, contracting, purchasing and payment gauged success chiefly on their ability to wring savings out of the value chain. Without question, reducing costs remains as crucial today as ever. But, with the advent of digital networks, Chief Procurement Officers find that they now have an exponentially greater opportunity to create value. By linking together buyers and suppliers in real time, digital networks allow procurement leaders to foster collaboration, spur innovation and drive much of the strategic value that fuels growth.

These activities, of course, can benefit the balance sheet. But there are others, equally important, that a spreadsheet cannot easily capture.

The seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined for a fourth consecutive month to reach 44.3 points in February 2020. The 0.9-point decline brought the index to its lowest level since the second half of 2009 when the economy started to recover from a deep recession triggered by the global financial crisis.

"At four points below the average reading in 2019, the current level is only six points above the lowest point reached in 2009", noted the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) in a statement.