A supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in delivering a product or service to a consumer.
The auto company that has the best profit margin in the industry, Subaru, is now running into problems concerning their ability to keep up with demand. The company can barely make enough cars to meet demand and quite frankly, couldn’t be less suited to handle a sales surge. The real problem lies in the juxtaposition, that expanding…
When people discuss Supply Chain Management, there doesn’t seem to be any common understanding of what it is all about. I get it! To some, it is software and technology. To others, it is just purchasing and logistics. And still others believe that it is ‘big data’ and analytics. No wonder that eyes glaze-over when the subject…
Bloomberg reports how the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil (Saudi Arabia) has let prices plummet, delaying the day when climate concerns, efficiency, and fuel switching will break the world’s dependence thereon. Things were looking bleak for Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s petroleum minister, when oil prices crashed last fall. Naimi pushed prices lower in an initial attempt to…
In Germany, the Erich Utsch AG plant is building a staple of American prisons: the equipment convicts use to crank out vehicle license plates. Utsch, with its niche product and exporting zeal, is one of the 3.7 million small and medium-sized companies driving Europe’s biggest economy. The son of the company’s founder, recently revealed their international…
“Managing by the Numbers” is a tired phrase. Really, it is. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” is a phrase that we all hear, and we all say it like a prayer that a nun murmurs while counting rosary beads. Many people argue about who said it first, Peter Drucker or Edward Deming. We…
Reuters reports that after record orders, Airbus is reshaping for higher output, while its procurement chief deepens the use of auto methods in their supply chain. The transformation underpins one of the toughest challenges faced by Airbus in its 44-year history: switching to a new model of best-selling A320 at the same time as embarking on…
