Supply Chain Blogs

Wal Mart to pay more for sustainably sourced products

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,”

Complex supply chains

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:

Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain: Hype or Trend?

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.

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TAPA Supply Chain Standard

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.

Supplier of a supplier still the problem of the manufacturer

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.

Is your beer safe?

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.

Supply Chain metrics and benchmarking

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.

What’s new for Supply Chains?

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.

Changes in supply chain collaboration, management and security

9th Oct 2007

Changes in supply chain collaboration, management and security 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.

Is local food safer?

9th Oct 2007

Is local food safer? 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.

China cracks down on food producers

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. […]

Wal-Mart addresses climate change and supply chain

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.

Mattel apology to China not the end of it

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.

More consumer calls for transparency

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.”

Supply Chain Risks, One Year Later

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.

Green Supply Chains and consumer pressure

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 […]

Import Supply Chain Checklist

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 […]

Harmonisation of food standards: a step closer

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.

Supply Chain Security

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 […]

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Supply Chains: Who’s to blame when it all goes wrong?

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.

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New white paper shows Chinese food exports safest in world

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 […]

AP article finds little change despite E Coli outbreak

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 […]

The YouTube! ISO14001 video

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.

Supply Chain Conference in Prague

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 […]

Dow Chemical and Union Pacific Railroad Working on Supply Chain Security

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 […]

Supply Chain problems linked directly to financial performance

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 […]

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Thoughts from the Global Food Safety Summit, Prague

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 […]

Consumers increase call for transparency in food labeling

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 […]

Trust in the Food Supply Chain

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.

Internal testing reveals latest Salmonella scare in US

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 […]

Times highlights need for Food Assurance

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.

The value of provenance: Part 2

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?

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