Yearly Archives: 2008

Economies of scale

It is unfortunate that the decision-making process for infrastructure projects in Norway rests heavily on local and regional governments and less on the oversight of the national planning authorities. Overall socio-economic benefit is set aside to satisfy local desires or is simply overruled by successful local lobbyists.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

From the back room to the board room

Supply chain management used to be relegated to the logistics department of businesses and hardly thought of as matters concerning the top-level management. In his 2004 paper, Joseph L. Cavinato points out five sub-networs within the supply chain that need special attention:Physical – the actual movement of goods, shipping and warehousing
Finance, Information, Relations, Innovation.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , ,

Accessibility Index – Transport Network Vulnerability

The starting point for this paper is the question of how to define and find critical locations in a transport network. A network node is vulnerable if loss or degradation of a small number of links diminishes the accessibility of the node. A network link is critical if loss or degradation of the links diminishes the accessibility of the network or of particular nodes

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Supply Chain Disruptions – Does location matter?

In regions or countries with sparse transportation networks or few transportation mode choices the structure or design of the supply chain, along with the organization and preparedness become important factors in determining if a company has an favorable or a unfavorable location.

Posted in my PUBLIC PRESENCE
Tags: , , , , , ,

How to Design Mitigation Capabilities

The severity of supply chain disruptions stems from supply chain design characteristics and supply chain mitigation capabilities: Supply Chain Design: supply chain density,supply chain complexity, node criticality. Supply Chain Mitigation Capability: recovery capability, warning capability.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Book Review: Research Methodologies in SCM

Is there something like the right research design for supply chain studies? I believe there is, and in Research Methodologies in Supply Chain Management it is more than likely that you too will find a research approach that will suit your needs.

Posted in BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Tags: , , , ,

Cutting back on road spending may not be wise

Improving roads standards is not just a traffic safety issue, but is also a major contributor towards reducing transportation costs and improving overall supply chain quality.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

Supply Chain Visibility through Web Conferencing

It’s weekend and time for some reflections. Maybe slightly off-topic for this blog, but the other day I came across “Web Conferencing”, a feature-rich full web collaboration service, and it occurred to me how useful this tool is in Supply Chain Management.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , ,

NOFOMA – The Nordic Logistics Research Network

The Nordic Logistics Research Network (NOFOMA) is a network of Nordic researchers within the field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Why haven’t I heard about this before…stupid me! It’s amazing how one can be a researcher in a certain field without being aware of the most obvious network one should join.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

The Nordic approach to Logistics and Supply Chain Management?

Is there such a thing as a typically Nordic way of thinking within the field of Supply Chain Management? A new book is out, trying to answer that question: Northern Lights in Logistics & Supply Chain Management

Posted in BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Tags: , , , , , ,

Supply chain vulnerability: an invisible global risk?

Supply chain disruption – a global issue? All companies and governments dependent on external suppliers are exposed to the risks of disruption in their supply chain. Even a relatively small supply chain disruption caused by a local risk event may ultimately have consequences across the global economic system.

Posted in REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Tags: , , , , , , ,

eSourcingWiki – can it be trusted?

eSourcingWiki is sponsored by Iasta, a software and global service provider of cost effective Supply Management solutions. Does this bias the information? Not as far as I am able to tell. However, I focused mainly on the Supply Risk section.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: ,

The Handbook of Business Continuity Management

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) has many similarities with Business Continuity Management (BCM), which is why SCRM can and should draw upon BCM for advice. One of many good references for further reading on this subject is the The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management

Posted in BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Tags: , , , , ,

Supply Chain Risk – Business Continuity Management

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) has many similarities with Business Continuity Management (BCM). That is why SCRM can and should draw upon BCM for advice. A well-handled supply chain disruption can mean business continuity, while an ill-handled supply chain disruption can mean business dis-continuity.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , ,

A lesson in supply chain disruption: German railways during WWII

Supply chain disruptions have occurred as frequently in the past as today, and particular within the military in war times. A supply chain serving a war machine is under extreme strain, but is an essential element in winning or losing not only a battle or two, but an entire war.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , ,

Location, location, location

How do companies or businesses located in such places adapt to the terms and conditions of their supply chain, how do they hedge against the risk of supply chain disruptions, how are they impacted if there is a disruption?

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , ,

Assess the vulnerability of your production system

The paper defines the concept of vulnerability as it applies to production systems and is built around three concepts: A taxonomy of vulnerability factors as a basis for or guideline in establishing scenarios.
An input/output model to describe production systems.
A two-step vulnerability analysis for productions systems.

Posted in REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sheffi’s disruption profile

This is tell-tale illustration of what happens when supply chains are disrupted and businesses are impacted. They may, or may not, be able to bounce back to where they were before the event. The survivability of the company depends solely on the company’s resilience towards the disruption.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

A risky business? The top 10 challenges of offshoring

Organisations embarking on offshoring face multiple challenges; many of which can be extremely daunting. Sridhar Vedala, Director – Global Sourcing at EquaTerra explores the top 10 challenges of offshoring today and provides suggestions on how to tackle them head on.

Posted in REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Tags: , , , ,

Categorization of Supply Chain Risk

Supply chain risks can include a number of different issues, and the article structures these issues along three dimensions: 1) the Supply Chain itself, 2) Risk Management processes and 3) Types of Risk.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , ,

ARTICLES and PAPERS
Logistics risks - the new science?
Can logistics become an academic discipline? And can logistics risk be my new academic discipline? A[...]
An empirical investigation into supply chain vulnerability
Today's journal article is from Germany. In An empirical investigation into supply chain vulnerabili[...]
BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Book review: Handbook of Transportation Engineering
Comprehensive and all-encompassing, the Handbook of Transportation Engineering by Myer Kutz (editor)[...]
Supply Chain Logistics Risk in Germany
What are the most common supply chain and logistics risks that businesses and logistics providers ha[...]
REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Supply Chain and Transport Risk
We are living in a new world of risk that is making this world unprecedentedly complex and challengi[...]
Global Risks 2012
Are economic imbalances and social inequality risk reversing the gains of globalization? Should we s[...]
from HERE and THERE
How to disrupt a supply chain
This is a brief description of a model I developed for supply chain risk and vulnerability, with ris[...]
Transportation reliability and vulnerability
This is a philosophical essay on transportation vulnerability, where three fields or subjects are br[...]