A direction for Procurement As the COVID 19 pandemic progresses, so commentators discuss the ‘new normal’ and effects on supply chains. One of the most common observations is to reduce dependency on suppliers from China and to move away from sole or single source supplier arrangements. But, is this good strategic sourcing or just a response to immediate events? Strategic … Read More
Learn new Supply Chain skills in software technologies
Technology adoption by LSP and shippers As countries emerge from COVID-19 lock-downs, questions are asked in the media concerned with implementing a different business models and adjustments to the supply chains of businesses. Commentators have also expressed opinions that these actions will increase the use of ‘new’ technologies through supply chains. This opinion is more likely to be correct for … Read More
Understanding the Risks in your Supply Chains
Gathering data and information in supply chains The current pandemic has exposed a situation that, even with more data produced than ever before, companies in general do not have a good understanding of their supply chains. This includes risk exposure and alternative responses to supply challenges that may arise. A company’s supply chains can consist of multiple businesses and assets, … Read More
‘New customer’ demands and effects on supply chains
Choice and value chains The experiences of people going through the pandemic and expectations in developed countries of 10 percent+ unemployment, could change perceptions enough that the future will not be the same as the past. A report titled The New Customer, downloaded from the Digital Supply Chain Institute, provides their expectations of likely consumer needs in the future and … Read More
Review your supply chains for possible restructure
An acronym lives again To explain how enterprise will structure and perform as the COVID-19 crisis recedes, a speaker at a recent on-line conference used the term VUCA, which required a dig into the archives. The acronym was developed in the late 1980s by the US Army War College, in relation to strategic thinking in a post-Cold War scenario. While … Read More