I have to disagree with Bill Monk on his comments about supply purchase agreements in the June 6 issue of the O+F Advisor. Ostensibly, Monk reasoned that when evaluating the need to make a capital investment on void-fill machines, one should not blindly go for the promise of a free machine in exchange for buying a supplier’s products exclusively.

When evaluating the need to make a capital investment on void-fill machines, don’t blindly go for the promise of a free machine in exchange for buying a supplier’s products exclusively. According to Bill Monk, director of operations/transportation for basket merchant The Longaberger Co., in the long run you end up spending more money than if you’d purchased a machine independently and contracted for a better deal on the void-fill supplies. Shop around and do the math before you sign, he cautions, and if you do select this option, always have an end date for when the machines will be “paid for” and when you can subsequently shop around for another supplier.

A recent survey by Industry Directions, an enterprise technologies analyst firm, sheds new light on three common business pain points: forecast accuracy, overstocks, and expediting.