With so much uncertaintainty and change occuring within the print sector, many organisations are nervous about their print spends for 2012/13.

To balance out the negativity, Expense Reduction Analysts have released the latest copy of Pixels2Print a dedicated publication which highlights changes within the print industry as well as opportunities for organisations to reduce their costs and save money.

You can download a copy for free by clicking here.

Many businesses’ half-year profits are making for gloomy reading in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty, yet Premier Foods has vowed to slash logistics cost by £20million. Is the view of organisations such as this simply blind optimism, or are there really savings still to be made that are ripe for the picking?

While many may find the idea of squeezing their logistics and supply chains even further an absurd one, having tightened their belts significantly during the past few years and with fuel prices rocketing, a thorough review of operations can still reap rewards.

Logistics is not just about managing rising fuel prices and getting goods from A to B as cheaply and quickly as possible. Many other factors also need to be considered that can make all the difference to overall costs – for example, speed to market, supply chain efficiency and fluctuating exchange rates.

This is an excerpt from Logistics & Transport focus, the full article can be downloaded from here.

Sustaining a healthy bottom line – with economic recovery some way off and as businesses prepare to dig in for the long term, the spotlight remains on one key question: How can companies sustain a healthy bottom line throughout 2012 and beyond?

This question was the main focus of a recent roundtable debate, hosted by Expense Reduction Analysts, a leader in cost, purchase and supplier management and chaired by Anthony Hilton, financial editor of the London Evening Standard.

The event, which took place at St Ermins Hotel Westminster, welcomed guests from various business sectors including National Car Parks, Endless LLP, Decathlon UK, My Home Move, Sartorius and Instant.

As consultants in this area what was most interesting – and heartening – to hear were comments that strongly suggest that cost management is playing a bigger role in the overall strategic planning of organisations. Not surprisingly a number of companies had made their redundancies and business expenditure savings over the last 36 months. However emerging from one of the toughest three years in living memory was an appetite for strategic cost management rather than just tackling costs as a transactional exercise to achieve better pricing, which arguably is a short fix solution as the better pricing you achieve will quickly not be best value. The evidence for this was expressed in terms of how companies are looking to enhance their bottom lines by working more closely with their suppliers; digging deeper into management information; and not just benchmarking suppliers but also the cost management performance of different parts of their own business.

This growing strategic role for cost management was also reflected in discussions surrounding the importance of driving cultural change within an organisation to grow the bottom line; invest-to-save initiatives, through for example deploying energy efficiency initiatives; and opening up decision making on costs so that it is not just top down and goes beyond the financial director into the heart of the organisation.

From our own experience, the development of an effective cost management strategy will require organisations to set procurement objectives, a clear vision for the buying process and measurable outputs. A more strategic approach will also require a review of buying policy, processes and culture within the organisation.

You can download a copy of the report by clicking here.

In addition we have expert articles focusing on what to expect in 2012 across a range of categories, including logistics , couriers, and communications – as well as special features on IT and Property.

You can click here to download a free copy

The 20 Ones to Watch in the UK financial director profession have been announced.

The initiative was launched earlier this year by Expense Reduction Analysts, in association with Financial Director magazine, to celebrate the achievements of financial directors in the last 12 months and specifically those making a name for themselves in their respective companies.

This clearly reflects the broadening requirements of today’s aspiring financial directors, who are operating in an increasingly competitive and changing business landscape, not to mention one of the harshest ever economic climates in recent history.

The Ones to Watch received their accolades at a special celebratory lunch at the Private Room at Scott’s in Mayfair, London on 3rd November and will feature in the December issue of Financial Director magazine.

The Ones to Watch were selected on the basis of what they have brought to their organisations in terms of leadership; sound financial planning; innovation; decisiveness; communication skills and clear operational improvement over the past 12 months.

They include:

• Paresh Majithia- Timpson
• James Davenport- Innocent Drinks
• Robert Baker- ATG Airports
• Ian Griffiths- ITV
• Alex Maby- H&T Group
• Loraine Woodhouse-Hobbs
• Neil Bannister -JustGiving
• Rachel Osbourne- John Lewis
• Richard Smith- LNT Group
• Andrew Bonfield- National Grid
• Brandon Leigh -PZ Cussons
• Paul Venables- Hays Plc
• Rita Purewal- Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Nilesh Pandya- Skrill
• John Smith – BBC Worldwide
• Darren Rajanah -The Hut Group
• Chris Rogers- Whitbread
• Chris Lucas- Barclays
• Lucinda Bell- British Land
• Christopher Bailey- Plessey

Click here to download the Ones to Watch Report

In addition we have an expert article focusing on employee benefits, the changing legislation, and the financial impact this may have on your organisation.

Within this latest edition of the Profit News you can also find further articles focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility, savings tips within the Retail and Wholesale Sector, as well as an expert article on pricing within the Utilities Sector.

Click here to download your free copy now

Please find the link below to download our July 2011 edition of Profit News, featuring the most recent updates and money saving tips; in addition we have an expert article focusing on cost reduction within the care home sector, as well as articles on communications and the 3rd sector.

Within this latest edition of the Profit News you can also find some of our recent success stories, demonstrating how we have been able to help a variety of organisations uncover significant savings within their businesses, including Wharton Grove Wharf, SQS and how the property team and Paul Pearse made significant savings, and Plastikote.

Click here to download a copy of the Profit News for free

With organisations having made significant cost cuts recently, Andrew Brackenbury, Cost, Purchase & Supplier Management consultant gave his views on how companies can sustain a healthy bottom line to ACCA UK (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

The article was featured in a special edition of AB Direct, which provides a blend of news, in depth features, technical updates and the latest CPD events all tailored to to its members who are predominantly within the corporate sector.

A PDF of the article can be downloaded by clicking here

Managing spending, whether through improved procurement or a better attitude among workers, is an important element of running a lean business. Our panel of senior directors met at Stock in Manchester to discuss the tactics of cost control.

As consultants in this area what was most interesting – and heartening – to hear were comments that obtaining value from suppliers is more important than gaining lowest costs. We always advise that reducing costs is not just about going to a cheaper supplier. Instead work with them closely to identify value creation strategies which generate savings without affecting or disrupting standards of service through changing suppliers.

Participants in the debate highlighted examples where engaging with suppliers and understanding their needs, as well as fully assessing and communicating their own requirements and objectives, had proved beneficial, leading to cost savings. Another interesting focus of the debate was the recognition amongst businesses that there was a need to better manage non-core business expenditure.

Even though there was a general feeling that a lot of work had been put in over the last few years in relation to reducing overhead and suppliers’ costs, a key challenge to address was the monitoring and delivery of savings in business expenditure categories where different tiers of employees were involved in achieving cost reductions further down the chain.

We find this in most businesses we consult on. They are costs that are often found in the bottom two-thirds of the purchase ledger and go unnoticed and unchecked for years. By focusing on, monitoring and forensically examining such costs, which can be as diverse as banking and insurance, utilities, logistics, office supplies and communication, businesses can make major savings which go to straight to the bottom line.

To drive such cost savings it was agreed universally that there was a real need to create a cost conscious culture driven from Board level down with the Financial Director primarily responsible for creating this environment. That said, many also thought that while the FD was able to provide strategic guidance, he/she sometimes isn’t in touch with the operational impact of some types of cost reduction and therefore other departments and senior managers needed to be closely involved in implementing savings and managing change.

To download a write up of the event featured in this month’s issue of Insider click here

Every organisation that produces, distributes or sells food and beverages has many, many areas of expenditure, and, in a guide like this, we can only touch upon a few.  We have chosen to delve into the important cost areas of Waste, Logistics and Janitorial and First Aid supplies, which, together with the two contrasting case studies at the end, give you an idea of what savings are possible.

Furthermore, we hope that these examples give you the confidence that, if this level of cost reduction could be extrapolated over a significant percentage of your outgoings, your bottom line would indeed look very healthy!

This booklet has been written by consultants who specialise in finding savings in these areas in the Food and Beverage sector, their knowledge gleaned from, and their expertise honed by, many years of delivering significant cost reduction for their clients.

Download your free copy of the guide here!