Blog Archives

Posts inspired by whatever else I find interesting

Balanced Scorecards for Supply Chains

Can balanced scorecards help assess your supply chain vulnerability or your exposure to supply chain disruptions? Maybe. Have you ever thought about how barcodes are a major factor in performance of supply chains? How can you keep track of all the items flowing through the supply chain?Using a barcode scanner and inventory control software it is easy to check where any item is at any given moment.

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The BBC box

I usually watch the BBC World Business Report every morning and today I learned that BBC News is following a shipping container for a whole year to tell the story of globalisation.

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CSCMP Europe 2009 Conference

The phrase “Supply chains compete, not companies” was coined by Martin Christopher, and it is a fitting reminder for the theme of the CSCMP Europe 2009 Conference: “Overcome Barriers That Face Your Supply Chain and Turn Them into Competitive Advantages”.

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1st Supply Chain Risk Management Seminar

The Supply Chain Risk Management Seminar Barcelona 2009 is a highly interactive two day seminar which will bring together senior level executives from all over the globe to discuss the most pressing issues today through a series of case studies, informative presentations, workshops and interactive panel discussions.

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The European Supply Chain & Logistics Summit

In the current financial downturn what should be – or what will be – on the mind of supply chain and logistics executives in the months and years ahead? The SCLEurope 2009 is a great place to find out about just that.

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MITIP2009 – a conference worth considering

The purpose of the Modern Information Technology in the Innovation Processes of the Industrial Enterprises conference is to serve as a forum for the dissemination of ideas, knowledge and experiences about the ICT-driven innovation in industrial products, processes and services.

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Norwegian roads are slooooow…

Comparing average speed on roads in 13 countries, it turns out that travelling in central Europe is several times much faster than in Norway. Norwegian roads are sub-standard compared to much of Europe. Anyone who has ever been to Norway will agree.

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Airports – vital to supply chains?

Is the temporary shut-down of Bangkok’s two international airports important in a supply chain perspective? So far, the issue has been stranded tourists, maybe as many as 100000. Not only that, air freight will also be impacted, but why is this important?

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Practical Supply Chain Risk Management

Supply chain trends such as offshore manufacturing, global outsourcing and lean sourcing continue to impact the supply chain and supply chain risk management has taken center stage as a vital risk management priority.

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Supply chain disruptions by pirates

Yesterday I cited the press release of the Norwegian shipping company Odfjell, which no longer will send their tankers through the Suez Canal, but take the long route around Africa instead, hoping to avoid being hijacked by pirates. Maybe just in the nick of time.

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Somali pirates forcing ships to make detour

Shipping companies are now seriously considering avoiding the Suez Canal and take the long route around Africa instead. One Norwegian shipping company, Odfjell, has already started sending their tankers on the long route.

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Thanks to Somali pirates no Santa is coming this year?

Shipping companies are now seriously considering avoiding the Suez Canal and take the long route around Africa instead. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reports that such move could endanger this year’s Christmas, with presumed presents not arriving on time to be sold from stores.

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Business Intelligence – a key element in Supply Chain Risk Management

In my postings on supply chain risk and supply chain disruption, there is one thing that I have overlooked: Business Intelligence. Well, not overlooked, maybe, but underestimated, because Business Intelligence is a key component in mitigating supply chain risk and also a key component in recovering critical information after a supply chain disruption.

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TRB 2009 – are you going there, too?

Are you presenting at the TRB 2009, the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting? Below is the abstract of a paper I will present at TRB2009, the Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting, in Washington, DC, 11-15 January 2009.

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Conferences in Transportation and Supply Chain

Looking for a list of conferences in supply chain and transportation-related topics? By accident, I came across this list on a website called interorganisational.org. Not only does it feature calls for papers for conferences, but also calls for papers for academic journals, complete with abstract or paper submission deadline.

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Sparse transportation networks – a nightmare

Sparse transportation networks, like in Norway, are a recipe for supply chain disruptions. Furthermore, unlike in regions with a dense transportation network, supply chain management in a sparse network setting comes close to being business continuity management.

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Can Somali pirates bring down supply chains?

The BBC news this morning ran an interesting and worrying story: Shipping companies are considering to avoid The Somali coast and Suez canal on their way to Europe and rather take the long route around Africa. That will make for an extra lead time of 3-4 weeks, but this could mean a temporary supply chain disruption for Europe, while the new lead times settle in.

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International Transport Economics Conference 2009

The International Transport Economics Conference (ITrEC) 2009 will be held during June 15-16, 2009, at the University of Minnesota. If you haven’t already done so, make sure to bookmark this conference in your calendar.

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Overcoming locational disadvantage

When it comes to a business’ physical location in relation to the functioning of the supply chain, obviously there are good locations and bad locations. Can a business’ organization compensate for that?

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Will your business byte the dust?

To backup or not to backup? Honestly, you shouldn’t even be asking yourself this question. Can you afford not to backup? Data recovery can be very costly, while data backup is a cheap insurance premium.

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ARTICLES and PAPERS
Organisational Resilience
Organisational Resilience Literature. "What to read, and what not to read". That could be the popula[...]
A typology of crises
What defines a crisis? Are there different types of crises? Crisis management is the focus of this w[...]
BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Book Review: The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation
This book, The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation: Contributions to Theory, Method and Measur[...]
Book Review: The Geography of Transport Systems
This is a book I've wanted to lay my hands on for a long time. The Geography of Transport Systems by[...]
REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
How New Zealand develops resilient organisations
Is New Zealand better prepared for a disaster than other countries? As our infrastructure and organi[...]
Stemming the rising tide
Are you are taking radically different actions than your peers when it comes to supply chain risk ma[...]
from HERE and THERE
Fewer suppliers mean fewer choices for consumers
The financial crisis has created an supply chain crisis, says The Economist. As demand for cheap goo[...]
Resilience as a job description
Ever since I started to work for the Southern Region office of the Norwegian Public Roads Administra[...]