Previously, the Pentagon avoided expressing an opinion about what a merger would do to its supplier base.

That would bring the total involved by the beginning of 2006 to 300 companies, or just 1 percent of Wal-Mart's supplier base.

Today, Whirlpool is halfway through a five-year crash program to cut its supplier base of close to 2,500 in half.

We have a great supplier base and procure about $7 billion a year here.

This requires establishing a supplier base and purchasing materials.

It makes sense to review your supplier base regularly and see if you can buy the same raw materials more cheaply or efficiently.

"And we want a supplier base that looks a lot like our customer base."

"We would connect through them to the supplier base," he said.

Can you drive better deals by consolidating your supplier base?

We have relationships with our supplier base that go back 25 years, and we buy season after season from them.