SupplyChainNetwork.com

When the White House issued the Executive Order for Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service on April 27, 2011, I’m pretty sure that the procurement officers in federal agencies weren’t called into the meetings on how the organization would move forward on creating the customer service plan called for by the President. After all, [...]

In this 3-part series, we’re looking at the procurement disciplines that can help procurement executives and teams design and execute truly effective sourcing strategies in face of whatever the global economy brings. In the first post, we looked at using spend analysis to gain visibility across enterprise-wide spend as paramount to identifying the opportunities to [...]

From scmr.com: “As their operations grow more global and complex, companies are becoming increasingly worried about disruptions to their supply chains. The big challenge they encounter, says Gary S. Lynch of Marsh Inc., is identifying the potential risks and then effectively managing them. Lynch’s new book, Single Point of Failure, sets forth ten “laws” of [...]

From Industry Week: “More than one-third of North American manufacturers, responding to a MFGWatch survey, say they’ve experienced a significant supply chain disruption in the past three months. When asked if they or their customers had experienced a significant supply chain disruption in the past three months, 38% of both buy-side and supply-side manufactures indicated [...]

From husdal.com: ” I’ve searched and scoured numerous academic journals in order to find literature I can use for this blog. Sometimes my readers help me and suggest articles I am not yet aware of, and sometimes I stumble upon them myself, accidentally. Today I stumbled upon a 2004 working paper from the Copenhagen Business [...]

In a perfect world, component buyers would never have a shortage, forecasts would be accurate and authorized channels would always have stock. Sadly, we live in the real world where markets are volatile and manufacturers face recurring shortages. Longer supply chains, more players, more volatile markets, more counterfeit parts. These forces are changing the risk [...]

By Jon Hansen: “I recently posed a question on the importance of Multiple Supply Chain Networks which, within a matter of several hours, elicited 14 responses from around the world. And while the majority of respondents felt that the findings from an ISM, CAPS and AT Kearney 2006 report were not indicative of general market [...]

Electronic component buyers have it rough. Do your job well and no one notices. Slip up even a little, and the world comes down on you like a ton of bricks. One of the toughest parts of the job is fulfilling shortages. Research tells us that while component buyers at large manufacturers spend only 1-2% [...]

From scmr.com: “One of the most important jobs facing global companies today is how to manage risk in their supply chains. And the persons that are tasked to address this challenge are the company’s supply chain professionals.This timely webcast will help supply chain professionals meet that challenge.”

From RoshanThomas: ” Nortel Networks Corp, once a telecommunications equipment giant, after years of being under tremendous pressures and trying numerous reorganization and cost-cutting actions to improve its competitive position, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors on Jan 14th 2009. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was expected to pay creditors $107 million [...]

From msnbc.com: “Bristlecone, one of the industry’s most trusted supply chain business advisors and solution providers, today announced the publication of a study, “The Hidden Risk in Your Supply Chain,” carried out in conjunction with Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine. The research, which sought to gauge the ability of corporations to identify and manage [...]

In July 2008, a customized Google Search function was established for the Supply Chain Network site and now after six months, we’re pleased to highlight the Top Ten Supply Chain Network Search Terms! Click on each of the terms listed below to see the actual results returned for these searches on the Supply Chain network [...]

We’re pleased to present Supply Chain Network readers with an interesting and insightful series of articles on Supply Chain Fraud contributed by Norman Katz of Katzscan Inc. Regardless of where you operate in North America, Europe or Asia, the regulatory framework and compliance requirements continue to tighten and simply reporting losses as shrinkage just doesn’t [...]

From Reuters, by John Ruwitch: ” SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – In his dim two-room flat, Huang Renzhong showed a visitor a Mickey Mouse statuette and explained how creating Disney figurines during 15-hour work days in a grim factory led to a $90,000 lawsuit. The circumstances surrounding the case Huang filed with four colleagues last year [...]

From vunet.com: “A higher volume of enquiries from both CFOs and CEOs, asking how to manage the threats posed to their businesses from issues like terrorism and political unrest, landed on Aon’s desks last year, the firm says. Miles Johnstone, Aon’s director of political risk, believes that as both those pressures worsen in most markets, [...]

SUMMARY Supply chain fraud can encompass the entire breadth and depth of an organization, and its impacts can have a ripple effect throughout both the internal and external supply chain. The techniques, methodologies, and tools to detect and reduce supply chain fraud are available – organizations must realize the value of being proactive versus the [...]

INTRODUCTION Few terms resonate so deeply with business these days as do “supply chain” and “fraud”. Individually, these two terms are a reflection of the evolving business world around us: the supply chain is truly global in nature, and it seems that fraud is being committed in both the public and private sector at alarming [...]

RELATIONSHIP TO SARBANES-OXLEY Documentation for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requires the organization to look at risks, control activities, policies, procedures, etc. across all operations. This investigation becomes an introspective look at how the organization conducts business from the inside-out, the outside-in, and strictly within (such as between departments, divisions, etc.).