Trouble - This Week in Supply Chain Management (47 / 2011)

What a supply chain challenge. Tomorrow at 10:02 am EST, the Mars Science Laboratory will be launched to Mars, and therefore marks one milestone in a year-long preparation phase and the restart of the ultimate, trans-planetary supply chain. A hundred years ago, sending even small items or messages over long distances took days, weeks or month. Now information travels at the speed of light and cargo at the speed of UPS, all around the globe. And finally, more than 6 years after the last start of a science rover to Mars another big step is taken.

But I will stay earthbound for now and focus on the news of the week.

News

• Portugal’s supply chains may be at risk after Fitch downgraded the country’s debt to junk status. The unions engaged in warn strikes on Thursday. (FT)
• In the Bangkok Post there is an interesting article talking about the implications of the floods on the affected global companies: leaving or staying? The latter seems more likely. (Bangkok Post)

Blogs

• EY posted a (very short) interview with Nada R. Sanders (from Lehigh University) on “Supply chain management: everybody’s business?”. (EY)
• Another short read: Supply Chain Digital makes a plea for “Supply Chain Management Risk 2.0”. (Supply Chain Digital)
• Emily Holbrook from the Risk Management Monitor talks about the risks of flash mobs on retailers. And lists five methods to deal with them. (Risk Management Monitor)
• In the Supply Chain Management Review I found a short post discussing the tasks of a risk management “Proper risk management for today’s world requires companies to evaluate their supply chain structures for ‘known unknowns’ and ‘unknown unknowns.’”. (SCMR)

Research

• Members only: The CSCMP just published a study on “Supply Chain Manager Benchmark Study – Role, Compensation, and Career”, so if you are interested in this topic and a member of CSCMP, just head over to their site. (CSCMP

While you’re at it, have a look at the articles this week on this blog:

• Monday’s article lay the ground work for a topic I would like to go into more in the future: Predicting and Managing Supply Chain Risks.
• Wednesday’s post was about one of the riskiest businesses when it comes to supply chains and had a look at Supplier Risk Monitoring for the Automotive Industry.

Enjoy the weekend!