The management systems community
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.
14th Oct 2008 by Alex Briggs
Cheryl Vallender at www.disaster-resource.com has gotten a group of the world’s leading Business Continuity experts together to answer the question:
Where does Business Continuity Planning Belong in an Organization?
Cheryl’s article takes us right back to the beginning of Business Continuity through to taking a look at the current trends in global organisations.
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.
29th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
Food manufacturers have begun a massive repackaging effort to address the environmental concerns of consumers. This article takes a look at the way that some global brands are addressing the issue, as well as how they are attempting to balance environmental concerns with consumer health concerns.
“Good for you” will increasingly be faced off with “good for the environment,” and food companies will find themselves redefining how their food products will retain appeal, according to Mintel International in Chicago.
28th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released its Social Responsibility Standard to the committee stage, moving it one step closer to being an official ISO standard.
Nearly 400 experts and observers from around the world met at the ISO Social Responsibility Working Group, held September 1-5 in Santiago, Chile. There they agreed that sufficient progress had been made in developing the draft international standard on social responsibility for the “working draft” to be taken to “committee draft” level.
26th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
This video interview with Alan Knight offers insight into the new AA1000AS standard. The standard will be launched in London on the 24th of October.
25th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
ISO 9001:2008 is set to be published in the next few months. From the date of publish, current 9001:2000 certificate holders have 24 months to convert to the newer version. Companies whose three-year certificate cycle expires once 9001:2008 is published will only have the option of getting certified against the new version.
Steve Williams, Technical Manager, Certification at Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) stated, “ISO and the IAF have agreed an implementation plan to ensure a smooth migration of accredited certification to ISO 9001:2008. They have stated that ISO 9001:2008 does not contain any new requirements. ISO 9001:2008 only introduces clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 based on eight years of experience of implementing the standard. It also introduces changes intended to improve consistency with ISO14001:2004.”
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.
19th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
The tightening of visa restrictions around the recent Olympic Games in Beijing has had unintended consequences on the Quality Assurance industry, according to this Ethical Corp article.
Global brands producing in China have been unable to secure the auditors needed at Chinese factories to ensure that the quality of their products is right. A major fall out will be that people who have talked about moving production to other countries for some time are now actually having to do it to meet deadlines.
Even if (and there are no guarantees) things return to normal in September, it will be too late for these firms who need to get gear on boats in October for the holidays.
Now many are scrambling to find capacity in Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc., while any number of Chinese garment manufacturers (two thirds of whom operate on margins of less than 1.5% already) will go under.
A number of companies with production runs already underway are having to stall or delay work as they cannot get visas for their Quality Assurance (QA) staff to enter China.
18th Sep 2008 by Alex Briggs
Brands making green claims about their products need clarity on what they can and cannot say. This Ethical Corp. article highlights the difficulty for corporations in proving their green claims. The use of language, including sustainability and “low-carbon” were highlighted as terms that are difficult to prove and could potentially leave global brands open to criticism.
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