Planning for a ‘known unknown’ Your facilities are at risk of exposing people to the COVID-19 virus, resulting in the shutdown of a warehouse (WH) or distribution centre (DC). Rather than just responding when the event happens, develop your WH/DC risk management plan, to reduce the likelihood of a disruptive event happening and if it does, lessen the consequences. Factors … Read More
Your supply chains and logistics after the disruption
Your supply chains may change Supply Chains is a term that at last has entered daily use, but it has taken a global emergency for that to happen. The question for supply chain professionals is whether your supply chains and logistics will need to change when commerce returns to ‘normal’, whenever that will be? When business is in a growth … Read More
Big disruptions and their effects on supply chains
The current disruption The COVID-19 virus event has been a supply chain risk waiting to happen. A virus is not a ‘black swan’ event, but a ‘known-unknown’. The potential risks and likely consequences of a new virus were evident at the time of the SARS virus of 2002-3 and the H1N1 virus of 2009. The difference between then and now … Read More
Disruptions may drive your supply network design
An application that was not a success The take-up of technologies by industry not only depend on the business value of a technology, but how and to whom its is sold. If the timing is wrong, there is an increased risk of failure. So it was with Supply Network modelling; introduced with much fanfare in the early 1990s. The concept … Read More
Recognise the risks of disruptions in your supply chains
The present challenge Supply Chains carry risks, both minor and major. A major risk to supply chains could be the current Coronavirus outbreak. This is due to uncertainty about its duration and the long term impact on economies and supply chains. As China is an integral part of global supply chains, a decline in its output has the potential to … Read More