The management systems community
– 16th Mar 2010 by Alex Briggs
China has vowed to clampdown on food safety issues across the supply chain. In this Food Quality News article, China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture Wei Chao’an said,
Our agricultural products overall are safe and of high quality, but we must also recognize that while we transition from traditional to modern farming, many of our operations remain scattered, production methods are still backward and our supervision lags behind.
– 26th Feb 2010 by Alex Briggs
On the final day of February, LRQA’s Food Month, we bring you an interview with Catherine Francois, Director Food Safety Programmes, Consumer Goods Forum. Catherine is one of the most influential figures in the world of food safety. This podcast features her thoughts on certification, the GFSI’s role in harmonising global food safety standards and the Global Food Safety Conference.
– 18th Feb 2010
ISO 22000, PAS 220 and FSSC 22000 are changing the world of Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) assessments.
– 18th Feb 2010
“Recently, a food manufacturing client asked me why they needed a FSSC 22000 management system certification and Business Assurance from LRQA. The conversation was all about “what could a certified management system approach offer that a checklist approach could not?” Read the full blog!
– 12th Feb 2010
“A deliberate typo in relation to last week’s Global Food Safety Conference. Yet a relevant typo, as the issue is ‘who do you trust?’ I will explain later.”
Day Ten’s blogger is Ronald de Kok, LRQA.
– 12th Feb 2010 by Alex Briggs
This podcast is an interview with Robert DuPuy. Robert is the Vice-President of Sales and Training for LRQA USA. Robert joined LRQA in 2007. Robert has brought a revolutionary approach to the certification industry, with his insight and extensive IT experience helping shape Business Assurance in the USA. On the final day of the Global Food Safety Conference in Washington, D.C., we talked to Robert about his take on the event and organisations in attendance.
– 11th Feb 2010 by Cor Groenveld
Cor talks about his recent visit to the Global Food safety event in Washington and specifically talks about FSSC 22000, GFSI and more.
– 26th Jan 2010 by Alex Briggs
The 1.25 million pound salami recall by Daniele Inc. and the associated outbreak have once again raised questions about traceability. This Food Safety News article highlights the seriousness of the issue.
– 15th Jan 2010 by Sarah Whitworth
Wal-Mart Stores plans to squeeze billions of dollars out of its supply chain this year by purchasing more goods direct from manufacturers, cutting out third-party suppliers.
– 12th Jan 2010
Read the latest Blog By Bob Ferrari on Supply Chain Business Process and Technology.
– 18th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Dr Anne-Marie Warris’ blog today is also an audio blog as she called us from outside of the Bella Centre last night to update us on the latest COP 15 happenings. The audio file is just above, and below is the transcript of her phone in. Just before this was uploaded, Anne-Marie called back to say,
The mood has definitely changed over the course of today, with optimism on both funding and the possibility of a deal being done creeping back into people’s thoughts.
– 17th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s blog was phoned in by Sean Cuthbert, the Lloyd’s Register Energy’s leading climate change expert. The blog post is available as an audio file or as the transcript below.
– 16th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s Lloyd’s Register Copenhagen COP 15 blog post is from Sean Cuthbert, one of our leading climate change experts. Sean attended an oil industry meeting at the COP 15 conference and here are his thoughts.
Skeptics, Standards, and Peak “Everything”
– 27th Nov 2009 by Alex Briggs
In this FoodNavigator.com article, Dr Lea Borkenhagen, head of Oxfam’s Sustainable Livelihoods Strategy, said, “The food and beverage industry is at the forefront of change due to their reliance on agricultural goods at the top of the supply chain.”
– 2nd Nov 2009 by Richard Gunawan
How do we balance the priorities between the government’s interests and organisational objectives?
With the proliferation of trade security initiatives showing no sign of abating, there is an urgent need to adopt a common architecture to manage the assurance requirements essential to the public and private sectors.
– 14th Sep 2009 by Alex Briggs
In Episode 8 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation, Alan Knight, AccountAbility and Solitaire Townsend, Futerra Communications share their thoughts on what it will take for organisations and government to rebuild consumer trust.
– 25th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
Part 12 of the LRQA Food Safety Webinar is also from the technical presentation of Cor Groenveld. Here he talks about sections 6-8 of PAS 220:2008. the sections dedicated to Utilities, Waste Management and Equipment suitability.
– 24th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
In Episode 7 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, Sandy Sutherland, Head of Technical and Regulatory Affairs for Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) talks about trust, carbon footprinting and the “AccountAbility Gap.” The interview was conducted at the Launch of the What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn Report at the Lloyd’s Register HQ in London. The research is the latest in a series from AccountAbility, sponsored by the Co-operative and supported by LRQA.
– 18th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
Last year the world had a wake-up call with the sudden oil and food price rises. While we know the price of our food, the full environmental costs and the costs to our health are significant and hidden. We need a radical rethink of how we produce and consume our food.
UK Environment minister, Hilary Benn
– 13th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
Third-party recognition is important for many of USDA’s audit-based programs. We understand the value of this step as we continue working to strengthen the integrity of the NOP and to build the organic community’s trust in the program.
USDA deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan on the importance of independent, third-party auditing.
– 11th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
In episode 6 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, carbon footprinting and “green issues” are discussed. Featured are Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation, Sandy Sutherland, LRQA and Solitaire Townsend, Futerra Communications.
– 23rd Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
In Episode 5 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, Dr Alan Knight, Head of Standards and Related Services at AccountAbility, one of the leading think tanks on corporate social responsibility and climate change issues, and Kate Ives, co-author of the What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn report and also from AccountAbility, talk about some of the key results from the latest What Assures Consumers research.
– 22nd Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The latest LRQA Business Assurance interview features Robert DuPuy, the Head of Sales and Training for Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, Inc. (LRQA). In this interview, Robert talks about some of the key issues that organisations are facing during difficult economic times. He talks about management systems, the characteristics of a good management system and the importance of having accredited independent third party certification of management systems.
– 14th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
In Episode 4 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, the importance of independent assurance in restoring consumer trust in organisations and government is highlighted. Featured are Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation, Helen McTaggart of the Co-operative, Alan Knight and Kate Ives, AccountAbility, Sandy Sutherland, LRQA and Solitaire Townsend, Futerra Communications.
– 13th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The recent LRQA Food Safety Webinar is now available in smaller segments, starting with the opening session, “Food Safety Issue and Standards” being broken down into 8 individual video files. This post contains 5-8. Click on any of the images below to view that section of the webinar. Here is also the link to sections 1-4 .
– 9th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The recent LRQA Food Safety Webinar is now available in smaller segments, starting with the opening session, “Food Safety Issue and Standards” being broken down into 8 individual video files. This post contains 1-4. Click on any
– 8th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The July 1st Food Safety Webinar from LRQA is now available for listening, viewing and downloading.
The entire session is available as a recorded Webex here.
You can also view the webinar in parts with each of the sections being uploaded individually. The first sections will be uploaded tomorrow, covering all of the opening session, “Food Safety Issues and Standards.”
– 1st Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (AIRMIC) next chairman, Paul Howard, was recently interviewed by Sue Copeland for this article in Strategic Risk Magazine.
At a time when resources are even scarcer, risk managers are going to have to be much smarter in the solutions we offer and really review the cost benefit of any situation.
– 26th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
According to this FoodNavigator.com article, Danisco’s new sustainability chief, Jeffrey Hogue, will look to build more value from company policies and seeing results on the bottom line – as well as for the environment and local communities.
– 24th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
Follow Business Assurance at our YouTube! page, on our Twitter page , on the video sharing site, Vimeo and another video sharing site, Veoh .
– 23rd Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
This Infosysblogs post takes a closer look at where organisations are investing across their supply chain, breaking it down by location and sector.Interestingly, over 50% of organisations that took part in a recent poll inidated that forward planning was their focus, not maintenance.
– 16th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
Here is a collection of notes and thoughts from Guardian Climate Change Summit 2009 in London yesterday, most of which were posted yesterday on our www.twitter.com/lrqa page.
First session thoughts and notes
Quote from Gavin Neath, Senior VP Unilever “Organisations need to learn humility.For the past 30 years, environmental groups were right, businesses were wrong.”
Mars looking to work with PAS 2050 the carbon Footprinting for products, according to Fiona Dawson, Managing Director, Mars, UK
– 9th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
The 10 part “Trust and Transparency” podcast series is here! Harriet Lamb of The Fairtrade Foundation starts the series with her insight on what it takes for organisations to rebuild consumer trust. She also talks about Fairtrade and how they have done during the current economic downturn. She also shares her thoughts on the What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn report, the latest in a series from AccountAbility, sponsored by the Co-operative and supported by LRQA.
– 22nd May 2009 by Alex Briggs
Our Business Assurance Thought of the Day today helps bring the US Food Safety situation into perspective. According to Ohio.com,
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government agency solely responsible for auditing food manufacturing locations across the US did not conduct any audits at all in 2007-2008 in California, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
– 5th May 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s quote focuses on the potential of Asia. A book released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ADB Institution on Monday at the 42nd ADB annual meeting in Bali provides us with our Business Assurance Thought of the Day:
“Asia has enormous untapped economic potential,” said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda, adding “Connecting its diverse economies and peoples through seamless infrastructure will help in achieving an integrated, poverty-free, prosperous, and peaceful Asia and the world.”
– 5th May 2009 by Alex Briggs
We now have 9 sections in total, with the Asia specific section joining Climate Change, Food, Supply Chain, CSR, Product Conformity, Risk, Management Systems and Business Continuity.
– 29th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s link of the day is from a leading supply chain blog. This post is titled, “Seven Habits of Effective Supply Chain Managers.”
– 29th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s link of the day is from a leading supply chain blog. This post is titled, “Seven Habits of Effective Supply Chain Managers.”
– 17th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
With Food Safety at the top of the agenda for governments, organisations and individuals, the risk to brands that get it wrong has never been greater. The costs of assuring the food supply chain have been seen by some as “too high” or “not necessary.” The example of the Plainview Peanut Company’s $14.6 million fine highlights once again the true costs of “getting it wrong.”
– 15th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
Supply chain managers in North America, Europe and Asia by a wide margin worry that increasing trade protectionism could push the global recession into a global depression, according to a survey released today.
– 31st Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
Todays thought and link of the day both refer to a new report, Keeping America’s Food Safe.
Only one percent of imported foods are currently inspected, even though approximately 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood Americans consume is imported.
– 25th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s thought and link are related to global supply chains and are from the same source, Bob Ferrari’s blog.
Tata didn’t set the price of the Nano by calculating the cost of production and then adding to margin. Rather it set $2500 as the price that it thought customers could pay and then worked back, with the help of partners willing to take on a challenge, to build a $2500 car that would reward all involved with a small profit.
– 6th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
If the general public wants an example that makes ISO 28000 relevant, they need look no further than NASA. In this Houston Chronicle article, the acting administrator of NASA told the US Congress yesterday that some of the cost overruns from the space agency stem from counterfeit parts inadvertently installed on space craft.
– 4th Mar 2009 by Cor Groenveld
ISO 22005 is the new international standard for traceability in the food and feed supply chain. Traceability is a must throughout the whole feed and food supply chain, in particular as a part of the emergency management process when quality or food safety problems with raw materials or finished products occur. When an organisation is able to rapidly trace back ingredients or finished products, risks and costs involved with quality and food safety defects will be reduced. The standard is part of the ISO 22000 family and it provides tools to implement an effective traceability system as part of a food safety / quality management system.
– 2nd Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
Consumer confidence in the safety of the US food supply has dropped sharply in the wake of the current salmonella outbreak, with fewer than one in five now saying that they feel the supply is safer now than a year ago.
With only 22.5 percent saying that the nation’s food supply has become safer, confidence in American food is the lowest it has been.
– 27th Feb 2009 by Raz Chaudary
A recent research report, comprising of interviews conducted by IBM, with over 1200 chief financial officers from 79 countries, concluded the following points mentioned in the article.
– 27th Jan 2009 by Raz Chaudary
In the event of a business disruption, Business Continuity Management (BCM) helps you to identify and prepare for critical business operations. This may be more important for organisations with global complex supply chains or where there is a single-point of dependency from either the supplier or customer side.
– 11th Jan 2009 by Alex Briggs
For 2009, Bill Marler, food safety advocate and managing partner of law firm Marler Clark, asked the food safety community to weigh in on the most pressing food safety challenges.
Top of the list was globalization, including the possibility of “economic or chemical terrorism”, which may not directly intend to scare people but is the intentional adulteration of the food supply motivated by profit, as in the case of the recent melamine scare in China.
– 9th Jan 2009 by Kevin Roberts
An article which explains the term Supply Chain, and what it means to businesses all over the world.
– 18th Dec 2008 by Alex Briggs
i2 Technologies has published their economic downturn supply chain predictions:
1. SaaS and other engagement models will dominate in 2009
Software as a service (SaaS) and other engagement models will dominate the market in 2009 as companies seek to focus technology budgets on gaining a competitive advantage quickly without additional infrastructure. Outcome-based service engagements will be encoded into contracts in 2009 utilizing a managed business process services approach.
2. Risk becomes real and so does risk management
– 17th Dec 2008
Bob Ferrraris Blog about Supply Chains, this post talks about Supply Chain risks today.
– 9th Dec 2008 by Alex Briggs
The future of any of the big three U.S. automakers lies both in world-class, competitive products, but also in a vibrant supplier network that can drive higher levels of innovation and time-to-market.
– 20th Nov 2008 by Alex Briggs
PAS 2050 - the new carbon footprinting methodology for products (goods and/or services) sponsored by DEFRA and the Carbon Trust has now been published by BSI. The document is now available for implementation by organisations looking to determine and verify the carbon footprint of specific products.
In this video interview, Paul Smith, Project Leader for Carbon Labelling and Footprinting at Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), talks about how PAS 2050, the new Carbon Footprinting methodology for products can benefit organisations.
– 5th Nov 2008
In a blog by Volkan Sevindik, it looks at the supply chain and how security breaches can damage brands, break down partnerships and, ultimately, hurt the bottom line.
– 27th Oct 2008 by Alex Briggs
Chris Harrop, Group Marketing Director for Marshalls in the UK is on the cutting edge of CSR, ethical supply chain initiatives, carbon labelling, workers rights and stakeholder engagement. In the first episode of our Ethical Supply Chain Video Podcast series. Chris talked to us during the recent Ethical Supply Chain Summit in Berlin.
Chris shares his thoughts on some of the key topics that are facing global brands today, with the conversation ranging from competitive advantage for businesses embedding CSR as part of their business practice to Marshalls work with the Carbon Trust in becoming the first brand to carbon label their entire product range.
Chris shares his thoughts on some of the key topics that are facing global brands today, with the conversation ranging from competitive advantage for businesses embedding CSR as part of their business practice to Marshalls work with the Carbon Trust in becoming the first brand to carbon label their entire product range.
– 27th Oct 2008 by Raz Chaudary
According to Forbes Calamity Prevention “the business impact of planning to mitigate, respond to and recover from earthquakes will be significant all over Asia, even if no more earthquakes occur for many years.”
Recent earthquakes around the Pacific Rim in the last four months have registered 6.0 or higher on the Richter scale, the magnitude at which earthquakes are generally considered destructive.
– 14th Oct 2008 by Alex Briggs
This New York Times Media Group article raises the question “Is there more tainted food out there?”
The melamine scandal has heightened fears that the food business is racing ahead of the ability of governments to detect health-threatening contamination, whether accidental or deliberate.
– 13th Oct 2008 by Alex Briggs
Our editor will be on hand at this week’s gathering of some of the world’s leading supply chain experts and directors .
We will be blogging from the event, as well as providing our audience with some insight from some of the key topics discussed at the event.
We will be interviewing some of the supply chain world’s most influential thought leaders.
Starting with Monday, October 20th, we will be posting each day next week with either a blog post or an interview.
– 22nd Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
This Supply Chain Market article takes an in-depth look at supply chain performance, asking some of the tough questions. Supply Chain Assurance is all about ensuring that your supply chain is functioning at maximum capacity and efficiency. The role of management efficiency is highlighted here.
– 17th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
Two workers rights experts have held an insightful debate into Supply Chain standards and human rights for workers. Jeff Ballinger, academic, former union and NGO activist is clearly against standards as the end all solution for factory abuses, while Doug Cahn, consultant and formerly of Reebok, is in favour of standards and audits in bringing about change in supply chain factories around the globe.
This Ethical Corporation article features the full debate.
– 16th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
This link is to a flash movie on the key issues surrounding food safety and supply chain security.
The presentation is from O. Keith Helferich, Ph.D. -Professor, Supply Chain Management at Central Michigan University and
Instructor, Supply Chain Management, Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, and John Spink, MS., Director
Packaging for Food and Product Protection Initiative.
– 15th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
The Gallagher Review, commissioned by the UK government and released in July, concluded the EU’s biofuels target of 10% of all fuels by 2020 could not be met sustainably and advised that targets be scaled back.
The report concluded that, while the current targets are not realistic under the existing regulations,
if robust, comprehensive and mandatory sustainability standards are implemented now, a genuinely sustainable industry could evolve.
This ClimateChangeCorp.com article goes on to discuss existing standards, as well as introducing the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels “Version Zero” proposed standard.
– 8th Jul 2008 by Alex Briggs
This Retail Bulletin article discusses the results of a recently published survey on supply chain issues. According to the 100 UK supply chain professionals surveyed, supply chain managers spend up to 52 days a year keeping abreast of, and complying with regulation and legislation relating to the supply chain.
The research found 84 per cent spend up to 52 days a year on compliance while 16 per cent claim even more time. More than half (58 per cent) claim to be either concerned or very concerned about operating in an increasingly regulated environment.
– 4th Feb 2008 by Alex Briggs
Lee Scott, CEO and President of CEO commented,
“The drive will see the retailer favour - and in some cases even pay more - for suppliers that meet our standards and share our commitment to quality and sustainability”.
“Paying more in the short term for quality will mean paying less in the long term as a company. Higher quality products will mean better value, fewer problems, fewer returns and greater trust with our customers,”
– 31st Jan 2008 by Gail Van Den Bos
We see a lot in the media about product recalls and product safety scares: these impact on brand reputation and cause customers to lose confidence.
And the items concerned come from supply chains that are a network of many unrelated organisations. These operate locally, nationally or internationally, all contributing to the delivery of a product or service to the end user, the consumer.
And these supply chains can be very complex. You may not realises it but:
– 25th Jan 2008 by Cor Groenveld
A roundtable discussion was recently organised by LRQA’s Netherlands office. The focus was on sustainability in the Food Supply Chain.
Here is a brief synopsis of the topics covered and the key points raised.
– 30th Nov 2007 by Alex Briggs
The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) is an association of security professionals and related business partners from various high technology manufacturing and transportation companies who have come together for the purpose of addressing the emerging security threats that are common to the relevant industries. The TAPA EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) brochure contains relevant information on the organisation, the TAPA FSR Standard and a list of the members and associate members.
– 30th Oct 2007 by Gail Van Den Bos
A recent article in The Observer newspaper in the UK, highlighted how a supplier to Gap Inc. had sub-contracted their work to another supplier where child labour was apparently found in use.
– 30th Oct 2007 by Alex Briggs
Anheuser Busch has denied serious allegations by Greenpeace that their Budweiser beer contains traces of a genetically engineered strain of rice known as “Liberty Link”.
Liberty Link is a series of strains of GM rice from Bayer CropScience. Some of the strains are banned in a number of markets around the world for human consumption, but not in the US.
Due to Anheuser Busch’s position as the largest single purchaser of American rice, Greenpeace claims that the group had a responsibility to ensure it was fully aware of how it is sourcing ingredients.
– 18th Oct 2007 by Gail Van Den Bos
Is there any value to benchmarking in supply chains? And how reliable is the information? Is the only organisation that benefits the one that does the number crunching and writes a report?
Where a set of metrics is issued to a company showing how they sit against their competitors, do they do anything with the information? From my experience, I’m not sure that they do.
– 10th Oct 2007 by Gail Van Den Bos
There’s a great deal of information available about supply chains. And increasingly, it’s highlighting new areas. No longer limited to product safety recalls and logistical headaches, we’re now hearing more about green supply chains, ethical supply chains, carbon management in supply chains, reverse outsourcing, supply chain security and so on.
– 9th Oct 2007
The @ Supply Chain Management blog points to a new supply chain report, which presents the results of comprehensive longitudinal research into supply chain management and supply chain security.
– 9th Oct 2007
A new report from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University suggests that US consumers believe that local food is safer than that from further afield.
– 2nd Oct 2007 by Cor Groenveld
An article in the Sydney Morning Herald addresses the food safety concerns in China. The Chinese Government revoked the production licenses of hundreds of companies. It is known that food safety is very high on the agenda of China’s government. Reasons for that are the coming Olympics and the negative publicity from several food scandals. [...]
– 25th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
The key issues of risk management, supply chain and climate change have made their way to the top of media and corporate agendas recently.
A Wal-Mart and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) joint effort will measure the climate change effects across the Wal-Mart supply chain.
– 25th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
When big brands started to manufacture their products in “cheap labour” markets, it was believed that the brands had all the power, with governments doing everything they could to create favourable economic incentives to those brands.
The latest in the Mattel “lead paint” story seems to have indicated that the situation has drastically changed.
– 21st Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
In a food safety environment that is being increasingly driven by consumer awareness and outcry, soft drink manufacturers are taking steps to assure consumers that they are reducing additives in their products.
This Foodqualitynews.com article
A recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) report stated:
“eating or drinking certain mixes of additives together with the preservative sodium benzoate, could be linked to a negative effect on children’s behaviour.”
– 21st Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
A Forbes article on growing supply chain risks, published a year ago this week, stated:
The three most cited disruptions to their supply chains were the supply of raw materials, the performance of supply chain partners (specifically in delivery and quality) and volatile fuel prices.
– 20th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Successful consumer led campaigns against companies using cheap labour may be the blueprint for upcoming campaigns aimed at brands not paying enough attention to the “greenness” of their global supply chain.
This Supply Chain Digest article once again shows that brands cannot afford to get their supply chain wrong.
It is no longer enough for a brand [...]
– 20th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Despina Keegen of JP Morgan Global Trade Services has written a guest column for Supply and Demand Chain which features a supply chain checklist. Interestingly, the column talks about a possible “import czar” position being created at the cabinet level of the US government. A sign as to how important supply chain safety, supply [...]
– 20th Sep 2007 by Cor Groenveld
Will we ever have a “one size fits all” food safety management system? The Food Safety section editor, Cor Groenveld, provides an informative update on the initiatives that are all trying to bring some uniformity to the food industry. This blog post makes sense of a very complex situation.
– 17th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
A recent study has shown that 90% of all global exports are transported by shipping. The DTZ study has raised the importance of supply chain security for ports.
So, where is the threat to the security of the supply chain coming from? The research identified four key areas of threat with terrorism becoming increasingly important. This not [...]
– 17th Sep 2007 by Gail Van Den Bos
China’s manufacturing sites come in for a lot of bad press… maybe deservedly, but they are part of a chain of responsibility that starts with the customer at one end of the chain. Quite a few questions need to be asked before identifying culprits who contribute to product failures.
– 17th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
An article on a new white paper has shown that Chinese food exports are the safest in the world, with the EU accepting 99.8%, the US 99.1% and Japan accepting 99.42% (better than the EU and the US rates of acceptance for Japan).
With the recent food safety scares originating largely in China, the Chinese government watchdog [...]
– 14th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
The Arizona Republic ran a story on a recent Associated Press study indicating that the anticipated wave of government and industry regulation following last year’s E Coli outbreak has not materialised.
AP’s review of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that federal officials inspect companies growing and processing salad greens an average of just once [...]
– 11th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
For those of you who haven’t seen it, ISO has put a promotional video on YouTube! The video is an overview of the environmental management standard, ISO 14001, and has over 5,400 downloads so far!
Further, there are supply chain videos on YouTube!, including this promotional video from Cisco and Ford, as well as Food Safety videos, including this one on Food Safety and China.
– 10th Sep 2007 by Gail Van Den Bos
At the recent Global Food Safety Summit inPrague, a number of key messages emerged. These included the importance of effective risk assessments across all of the supply network, of the need to have processes in place to prevent emergencies (product recalls, security incidents), and also to be prepared to respond if the worst happens. Whilst the [...]
– 7th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Dow and Union Pacific have joined together with emergency responders across California to improve and test their safety and security skills in chemical rail transportation.The exercises are taking place all over California, as part of a road show.”We take very seriously our obligation to responsibly manufacture and move our oducts,” said Henry Ward, director of transportation safety [...]
– 7th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Supply Chain Digest, in their graphic of the week have proven a direct link between supply chain disruptions and a negative impact on a company’s stock prices.
The importance of a company being able to effectively manage their supply chain, from beginning to end, has never been more relevant. Recent high-profile media cases, have highlighted the need [...]
– 7th Sep 2007 by Cor Groenveld
I just got back from the Global Food Safety Summit 2007 in Prague. The event featured stakeholders from the food manufacturers, retail, food services and suppliers of food ingredients. It was a series of presentations, interactive sessions and individual meetings, all based around the issues of food safety in the supply chain. The attendees and [...]
– 6th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
A Greener Choice Blog post has highlighted a recent Consumers Report poll has found that 92 percent of Americans want their food products to be labelled with the country of origin.
In line with the recent What Assures Consumers report which focused on UK and US consumers and their attitudes toward climate change, the Consumers Report poll has [...]
– 6th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Canadian Blogger Robert Paterson has linked three key Business Assurance issues into one post: Food Safety, Supply Chain Assurance and the importance of transparency. Have a look at his “know your farmer, trust your farmer” point of view.
– 3rd Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Fresh Metz, a California based “grower and shipper specializing in year-round custom-grown spinach” has voluntarily recalled 8,000 cases of its products after an internal test found traces of salmonella on some of their products.
Coming on the back of new guidelines rolled out just five months ago, the latest recall of spinach has shocked the industry and [...]
– 2nd Jul 2007 by Tim Kitchin
If we are to trade our way out of climate change, consumers are going to need to make much better environmental choices.
Realistically, they will need a lot more information; honestly produced and simply presented.
– 16th May 2007 by Anne-Marie Warris
We are at the beginning of a new era, of a new exciting place to be. But we’re also facing a huge level of challenge.
We as individuals have to start making carbon choices that we’re not prepared to make yet, but that we’re beginning to think about.
– 16th Apr 2007 by Tim Kitchin
UK newspaper, The Times has highlighted a growing scandal as demand for ‘ethical’ and sustainable products outstrips supply, and unscrupulous suppliers are pushing farms.
– 30th Nov 2006 by Tim Wilson
“Degrees of shoparation” is the extent to which I don’t know the provenance of a product — it might be that I don’t have any connection with it at all.
How does this affect brands and branding?
– 22nd Nov 2006 by Andrew Kakabadse
One of the most critical applications facing management systems, is their deployment across complex supply-chains, where the same ‘rules and processes’ will need to be adapted into different cultures and risk management frameworks.
– 21st Nov 2006 by Tim Wilson
The difference in value between a tired, stage-battered, old Fender Stratocaster previously owned by my mate Chas, and one owned by Eric Clapton could be more than £50,000. Why is that?
– 8th Nov 2006
In an article in the FT today, David Barnes, CIO at UPS argues that supply chains will soon overshadow companies in terms of their impact on business success.
– 30th Oct 2006
According to Maplecroft the risk of social unrest in China is on the rise, following the revelation that the poorest 10 per cent of the population in China has actually become worse-off despite the economic boom.
– 6th Oct 2006 by Tim Kitchin
The number of cases of E. coli in spinach continues to multiply in the US, displacing more serious governance concerns like HP’s alleged employee-spying from the front pages of newspapers.
– 20th Sep 2006
The traditional association between organic foods and health is being steadily eroded, and replaced, with greater consumer association with the environmental benefits.
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