Archive for Supply Chain Risk Management
Preparing for Resurgence of H1N1 Flu
· CommentsOn Monday, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its report on H1N1 flu (aka “swine flu”). According to the press release, “The report concludes that the 2009-H1N1 flu is unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19. But in contrast to the benign version of swine flu that emerged in 1976, the report says the current strain ‘poses a serious health threat’… Continue reading
Last Friday, President Obama signed into law a $2 billion extension to the “Cash for Clunkers” program, after the initial $1 billion in funding was consumed in the program’s first week. The Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program, the official name of this legislation, offers consumers up to $4,500 to trade in gas guzzlers for new cars or trucks with better fuel efficiency.
There are valid… Continue reading
When Danny Boeykens, a partner at MÖBIUS, a European boutique consulting firm, read my posting on “Supplier Risk Management and the Automotive Supply Chain,” he pointed me to a Financial Times article by Richard Milne that provides a European perspective on this problem.
As stated in the article, “When Edscha, a German manufacturer of sun roofs, door hinges and other car parts, filed for insolvency [in… Continue reading
I came across a white paper from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) called “Seizing Opportunity: Linking Risk and Performance”. In one place, the paper highlights a “global automotive manufacturer” that was “experiencing significant losses due to a key risk in its supply chain: supplier bankruptcies.” The company faced the direct costs of those failures, as well as the “indirect costs derived from the poor product quality, unreliable supply, and management distraction” that… Continue reading
Last week, Boeing announced that it was acquiring “the business and operations conducted by Vought Aircraft Industries at its South Carolina facility, where Vought builds [the rear fuselage and tail-cone sections] for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner airplane.” The price tag is almost $1 billion, when you combine the $580 million Boeing is paying for the acquisition plus the $422 million Boeing had advanced to Vought earlier this year to… Continue reading
Our Green Economy is ‘Made in China’
· CommentsHave you ever heard of neodymium? Neither had I, until I read an article in The Atlantic by Lisa Margonelli (“Clean Energy’s Dirty Little Secret“). Neodymium is a “rare earth element” that is a critical component in making lightweight, affordable permanent magnets. According to a U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet written by Gordon B. Haxel, James B. Hedrick, and Greta J. Orris, “Small, lightweight, high-strength REE [rare… Continue reading
SaaS TMS and Supply Chain Risk Management
· CommentsMy colleague Adrian Gonzalez and I are both fans of network-centric, software-as-a-service (SaaS) transportation management systems (TMS). We see advantages in terms of on-boarding carriers and other trading partners, data quality management, and the potential for benchmarking (see “More Questions About Software-as-a-Service“). But as I think more about Duncan Watts’ “Too Complex to Exist” article (which I highlighted in “‘Power Curves’ and Supply Chain Risk Management“), I… Continue reading
What If Your 3PL Goes Out of Business?
· CommentsThis question became a reality earlier this month for customers of New Vine Logistics, a provider of wine-shipping services for leading winemakers. According to an article in the San Francisco Business Times, New Vine “abruptly” suspended operations on May 29th, laid off most of its employees, and informed clients over the weekend (nice!) that it was no longer receiving or processing orders. According to an article in… Continue reading
