What is clear is that VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) is continuing in the forefront and will continue to be our "new normal". As I recently debated with the Wall Street Journal, we are in an era of non-stop disruptions. Look no further than the escalating war of [...]
Transportation has been in chaos since the pandemic. It started with logjams at the ports that persisted for multiple years, continued with atypical events such as the ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal and truckers blocking the border of US and Canada, and continues to rage on with labor shortages across the board in rail, trucking, and all transportation sectors.
As has been all over the news, the Chinese sent a spy balloon which floated across the U.S. for about a week. According to US senior military officials, it is confirmed that the balloon is tied to a major surveillance program run by China's military. It has politicians and citizens up-in-arms about the potential impacts, and it bolsters concerns about China.
Since I was preparing for a meeting related to healthcare supply chains, I dug deep into the topic and thought it would be valuable to share the findings. In reviewing baby Tylenol /Motrin to adult diapers to medtech and pharmaceticals, supply chain disruptions have eased in some areas [...]
According to the The Journal of Commerce, the West Coast ports are losing volume. The West Coast share of imports coming from Asia is down from 61.1% in 2021 to 58.8% in 2022 while the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports rose. According to the JOC, the ILWU contract negotiations are causing this change although there are concerns about drayage and rail as well.
Supply chain has become an excuse. Although there has certainly been a slew of supply chain challenges that carry on with baby formula shortages, rail backlogs, computer chip issues, hurricane induced delays, fertilizer scarcity, and China’s zero-COVID policy delays, supply chain should no longer be the excuse. Only the [...]
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.
The Global State of Affairs The bottom line: It is a mess! What is going on? Unfortunately, there is a lot of volatility, and it will not smooth out anytime soon. For example: Russia/ Ukraine war: The Russia/ Ukraine war rages on and shows signs of escalation. There [...]
The world has all sorts of complications and challenges going on simultaneously: The Russia-Ukraine war is heating up, driving a severe energy shortage in Europe as Russia turned off the gas pipeline. The China-Taiwan tensions continue to gain steam with advanced computer chips at the crux of the conflict. The baby formula challenges carry on with flights [...]
Conversation with my colleagues from the Society for the Advancement of Consulting’s Supply Chain Special Interest Group, Lisa Anderson from Los Angeles, California and Antonio Zrilic from Zagreb, Croatia discussing inflation busting strategies that companies can adopt to ameliorate the effects of rising inflation.
