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Supply Chain Risk

Dec 22, 2017

Supply Chain Predictions for 2018: Real-Time, Innovation, Cognitive, Blockchain, Industry-Academic Partnerships, and Taking a Stand!

I had an opportunity to work on a number of exciting projects this past year, and in the process, spent a lot of time talking about digital supply chains with… 

Nov 21, 2017

The Legal Implications of Transport Visibility is NOT Good News for Truckers

Our prior post discussed the benefits and challenges of visibility in logistics.  But WAIT!  There’s more to it than just benefits. Carriers and shippers should also proceed carefully as they… 

Sep 25, 2017

Buyers, B-17 Bombers, and Heedful Interrelating…Musings for the Week

I had the incredible opportunity to fly in a B-17 bomber this past weekend, a replica of the Memphis Belle that survived 25 tours of duty in Europe.  I even… 

Aug 23, 2017

Needed: A New Way to Manage Risk in Low Cost Countries

Nowhere are disruptions more prevalent than in Low Cost Countries (LCC’s), which have become the focal point for outsourced contract manufacturing for major apparel brands such as Nike, Under Armour, Gap, Apple, and others. As organizations have expanded their supply chains globally, they have moved to outsourced manufacturing that reduces cost, but which also exposes their brand to greater risk. “Instead of brand versus brand or store versus store, it is now suppliers—brand—store versus suppliers—brand—store, or supply chain versus supply chain,” as Lambert and Cooper[1] highlighted in a seminal research article in 2000. 

Aug 18, 2017

MBA and Engineering Supply Chain Student Teams Kick Off this Week: Risk, Analytics, and Block Chain on the Agenda!

Fall semester at the Poole College of Management kicked off this week, and a new group of MBA and engineering students walked into our hallowed halls.  In my MBA 541… 

Jun 8, 2017

Insights from Counterfeit Roundtable at NC State Part 2: Interdiction and Block Chain

This past week we held a roundtable focused on “Combating Counterfeiting in the Supply Chain”.  This post is a continuation of an earlier post I wrote on this subject.  Counterfeiting… 

Jan 13, 2017

Post-mortem on Christmas Logistics Chaos: On Customer Commitments and Transparency

As we look back on the chaos that erupted during the pre-Christmas rush, discussions with executives suggest that there is still a long way to go.  Most logistics companies are… 

Dec 14, 2016

Day 3: Lenovo Goes About Creating the End to End Transparent Supply Chain

On the third day the team visited the Lenovo “Green Data Center”, and learned of how Lenovo is working to create their “converged” network servers that are on the leading… 

Sep 9, 2016

Hanjin Bankruptcy Demonstrates Fragility of Ocean Freight Market Prior to "Black November"

The recent bankruptcy announcement of Hanjin, a major shipping line, on the Friday before the last Labor Day long weekend, was a shock to everyone working in the global logistics… 

Sep 7, 2016

Oil and Gas Companies Consider Alternatives to Lump Sum Bid Contracts

A recent discussion with my colleague Tim Cummins at IACCM suggests that an increasing number of oil and gas companies are exploring alternatives to traditional “lump sum bid” contracts, that…