Supply Chain Matters

Global and Domestic Transportation Rate Increase Announcements Begin Along with the Many Implications

Bob Ferrari — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:04:37 +0000

Transportation, procurement and product management teams who are frequent readers of this blog are probably not surprised by the various global transportation rate hikes that have been announced these past days. More are sure to come as outlined in our previous Supply Chain Matters commentary regarding requested rate increases. Industry leading ocean container Maersk Line [...]

A Major Milestone for the Airbus A350 Completed

Bob Ferrari — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:37:12 +0000

Today marked the successful completion of the maiden first flight of the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, and the beginning of a final phase toward production. The aircraft completed its four hour maiden flight from Airbus’s corporate airfield near Toulouse France amid lots of fanfare. The timing of this maiden flight coincides the opening of next [...]

Opportunity Prevails- Supply Chain Matters Blog Sponsorship Promotion

Bob Ferrari — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:05:42 +0000

We remind providers of supply chain related technology and services that opportunities for being a named sponsor of the Supply Chain Matters blog are currently at all levels. Social media and especially blogs have come to be very influential sources of opinion, market knowledge and thought leadership, with this site being cited as among the [...]

The Transformation of Manufacturing is Underway- Is Your Organization Prepared?

Bob Ferrari — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:52:05 +0000

These past few weeks have featured an explosion of business, general media and technology vendor recognition concerning the new era of digital manufacturing that is underway and its profound impacts of how we think about this area. The notions of additive manufacturing, smart devices and predictive analytics applied to products and services are now becoming [...]

Exide Technologies Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Bob Ferrari — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:24:09 +0000

Supply chain management teams involved with consumer goods are all too aware that one large and dominant customer, particularly a retailer with the scale of a Wal-Mart, can determine the fortunes of a manufacturer. The latest reminder of this fact comes with news that Exide Technologies, a producer of lead-acid batteries for automotive, marine, recreational [...]

Lululemon Athletica Supply Chain Snafu- Recovery Underway

Bob Ferrari — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:16:06 +0000

In late March, Supply Chain Matters called our reader’s attention to a rather visible and potentially expensive supply chain related snafu involving Canada based yoga apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica. This retailer was forced to both recall and stop selling its most popular line of yoga pants after discovering that the “sheerness’ of the fabric allowed [...]

Proven Formulas for Manufacturers in Surviving Tough Economic Times

Bob Ferrari — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:58:45 +0000

Our European readers are acutely aware that the ongoing severe recession affecting the Eurozone has taken a severe toll on manufacturers and retailers. At the same time, time tested principles of market specialization, global outreach, and a highly skilled workforce can often provide a basis for a firm to outlast a recession in one’s home [...]

How to Measure the Right Supply Chain Metrics

Bob Ferrari — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:40:43 +0000

There has been quite a bit of social media discourse of late regarding supply chain metrics and whether supply chain organizations have been identifying and measuring the right metrics and driving the right behavior for their organizations. Pundits, industry analysts and even vendors all weigh-in on this topic. Earlier this week, Chris Jones, Executive Vice [...]

Unilever’s Recognition is on the Rise

Bob Ferrari — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:16:17 +0000

In our Supply Chain Matters perceptions of this year’s ranking of the Gartner Top 25 Supply Chains, we noted how pleased it was that Unilever had finally made top-five recognition and how this global consumer goods provider actually garnered the highest score among the Gartner analyst community More than many consumer goods supply chains, Unilever [...]

Major Component Sourcing Shift for Samsung

Bob Ferrari — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:14:45 +0000

At the Computex Fair held in Taipei this week, Samsung unveiled two new versions of both its 8 inch and new 10 inch Galaxy Tab 3 tablet devices. Beyond the product release headline was a supply chain milestone, that being the first use of an Intel sourced processor in a Samsung mobile based product. Samsung [...]