COVID-19 may no longer be a significant public health threat, but the global supply chain remains chock full of risk. The threats are seemingly everywhere these days: The Israel-Hamas war, which is sabotaging trade routes in the Red Sea; extreme drought, which is curtailing shipping in the Panama Canal, and China’s military aggression, which is threatening lawful commerce in the South China Sea.
Lisa Anderson, a supply chain expert and president of California-based LMA Consulting Group, says that the Chips Act "has spurred on certainly quite a bit of investment" in the US electric car sector. And Mexico is also booming through 'friend shoring'. ### Why firms are bringing their manufacturing back home [...]
The supply chain has calmed down since the height of the pandemic; however, smart manufacturers are thinking ahead to changing conditions. Geopolitical risks are at an all-time high.
Manufacturing promotes safety and security and mitigates risk. Controlling your supply chain and mitigating geopolitical risk can become paramount overnight as geopolitical events occur, natural disasters emerge, and supply chain challenges arise (strikes, disruptions, shortages).
Lisa Anderson was quoted in an article on the American Express website discussing why local sourcing can help benefit your business in a big way!
Manufacturing appears to be turning the corner. According to the ISM, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) recorded a contraction but at the slowest pace of the recent cycle. In fact, this is the third straight month of improvement.
Although the supply chain challenges have abated since the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions continue to persist and risks have increased. VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) has increased substantially in the world, negatively impacting the safety, security, and reliability of the supply chain.
In this episode of Interlinks, I am joined again by my colleagues from the supply chain special interest group of the Society for the Advancement of Consulting to discuss the issue of how and why so many businesses are overlooking the fundamentals of business as we emerge from a period of turbulence characterized by pandemic war and supply chain realignments into an uncertain future.
According to PMSA (Pacific Merchant Shipping Association), the five big West Coast ports have lost volume - 702,083 fewer loads and empties were handled in January and February 2023 than in the same period pre-pandemic in 2019. This equates to close to a 16% reduction. Specifically, the Port of Long Beach was off by 18.7% from January 2019 [...]
Should you be rethinking your supply chain strategy? Absolutely! There is so much volatility going on in the world that you must reevaluate your supply chain.
