Identifying competitive manufacturing countries. I recently read about the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report on global manufacturing cost competitiveness, which identified how the list of competitive countries has changed over the past decade. This report is important because many executives still consider that China is low cost, while western Europe and other developed countries are expensive. Based on this consideration, … Read More
Good logistics thinking – customers investing in better trucks
Trucks are worth money to your business. Transport can represent the single largest component of materials movement costs within your supply chains. Many businesses have outsourced all their transport operations, with the danger of a ‘set and forget’ attitude, where all they need to do is negotiate lower priced contracts. But if transport is a high cost element in your … Read More
Redesign your supply chains more often
Where to start. Most of us inherit the supply chains we work within. Not so long ago, to review and redesign a complex supply network was considered a big task, only be considered every five years or so and be undertaken by teams from large consultancies. As business and economic cycles became less obvious, affected by M&A activity, global procurement, … Read More
Make management decisions that mean something
The culture of your business and accepting responsibility. In your organisation, do managers make (and continue to own) decisions, or do tough challenges go through committees? This week the culture of General Motors has been discussed at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in Washington. This hearing is in reference to safety problems with a component used in vehicles; a … Read More
Resources - the new challenge in your supply chains
Using less resources in your business. Reducing the amount and value of non-renewable resources through your supply chains will be the coming challenge for management and will require the skills and knowledge of procurement and logistics professionals. For more than a century, until the early 2000’s, the price of hard commodities (except oil) and energy had trended down, but since … Read More