Category Archive

Marketing and Logistics are two sides of the same coin. When entering a new market, your DIFOTA (delivery in full, on time, with accuracy) objectives for the established markets may be compromised. This requires marketing and logistics to review, within the S&OP process, your supply chains to identify a better way to satisfy all customers. This challenge became real when … Read More

Near-shoring gains prominence. This month’s McKinsey Quarterly article by Katy George is titled Near-shoring: A CEO’s Guide and provides some good thinking about trends in manufacturing, many of which will have an influence on the future structure of supply chains and operations of logistics and logistics services. Near-shoring is another term for considering your business as a set of regional (rather … Read More

Horse meat challenges supply chains structures. The point to emphasis about the recent scandal in Europe is not that products contain horse meat – many people eat it. It is that consumers were not told on the packaging; the product descriptions were therefore misleading and that is an offence. The scandal has begun to elicit comments from leading retailers. Most … Read More

Analysing risks in operations. The disruption caused in the north east states of America by the super storm once again illustrates how vulnerable are long supply chains. An integral part of senior roles in supply chains and logistics is to have answers for the ‘what-if’ questions concerning business risks. The areas of vulnerability for your business can be identified under … Read More

What are your risks from a disruption? A recent report by Zurich Insurance in England indicates the potential supply chain challenges for businesses in many countries, including  yours. The study, of 500 businesses across multiple industries with sales to 300m UK pounds (U$471m), showed that supply chain challenges remain high. Concerning supply chain performance; 80 per cent of respondents said it was very important … Read More