Manufacturing

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.

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.”

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 [...]

Climate Change and the Future, two possible scenarios

– 18th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs

Dr. Glen Barry, in his Climate Change blog, presents two possible scenarios that could play out over the next 40 plus years.
More proof that business and governments need to change, now. The education level of the consumer is growing and increasingly they are demanding that businesses and governments become more accountable and more responsible. Can [...]

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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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 Assurance Podcast, Episode 1

– 10th Sep 2007

Series of interviews with key Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) experts on supply chain issues and opportunities for businesses today.

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 [...]

Renault promotes benefits of ISO 14001 in new global ad campaign

– 3rd Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs

Renault is going beyond the marketing speak in addressing climate change. Their latest ad campaign, sets out clear and measurable targets for their cars to meet in the coming years. In the ads, “Renault introduces its new Eco2 Symbol, clearly proclaiming its commitment to a product offering that is both Economical and Ecological.
This Ecological [...]

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