The world faces economic headwinds. According to the Economist, Europe’s economy only grew at 4% this decade as compared with 8% of the United States and is struggling with a triple shock of the energy crisis, surging Chinese imports, and the threat of tariffs from the United States.
There is substantial geopolitical risk with China. Look no further than the South China Seas. Philippine officials say Chinese forces seized two naval boats in a disputed South China Sea shoal. A few days prior, a Philippine ship and a Chinese vessel collided. It is a risky situation in the South China Seas.
As Mexico ushers in its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, and reaffirms its commitment to the "fourth transformation," Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD, President of LMA Consulting Group Inc., shares her insights on how this political shift is expected to enhance nearshoring opportunities for U.S. manufacturers.
The risk of China has increased dramatically over the years. Early on, executives were concerned about intellectual property theft. Although that is still a concern, there are much bigger issues.
If you are dependent on any region, non-friendly country, customer, supplier, material, or anything noteworthy to your success, you must diversify. Although this concept has always been true, the pandemic highlighted the critical importance. Some companies simply lost their source of supply overnight and have not recovered if not diversified.
According to UPS's CEO, UPS’ network flexibility gave it an edge over FedEx in landing a deal with the U.S. Postal Service. Instead of following a hub-and-spoke model to service the USPS, UPS can use its regional gateways to support the local and regional requirements of the USPS customers.
The latest Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse has caused massive diversions on the East Coast and in the Baltimore region and points out the need for backup sources of supply and agility in the supply chain.
Sales strategies and customer programs are pivotal to developing a demand plan in support of sales revenue growth goals. SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning) will translate these sales forecasts into operations and supply plans for review with cross-functional teams to ensure the sales plans are fulfilled successfully and efficiently.
Lisa Anderson addresses the significant challenges posed by recent quality issues at Boeing and their widespread effects on the aerospace and related supply chains. Drawing from her in-depth industry experience, Ms. Anderson offers vital strategies for companies to navigate these disruptions effectively.
The supply chain is in a constant state of disruption. As we discussed on Supply Chain Chats, simple backup plans are no longer enough. In fact, you can look at recent events and determine if a backup is sufficient. Starting with the pandemic, of course, most if not all companies didn't have a sufficient enough backup plan.
