Could Your Supply Chain Be Vulnerable to Recalls?
From Toyotas and Fords to airplane seats and black pepper –it’s only February 19 and unfortunately, it already appears that 2010 is becoming the year of the recall.
Of course, that also means that supplier relationships are in the spotlight like never before. Expanding global supplier networks are under scrutiny –and for good reason. In some cases, they have proven to be unwieldy, unpredictable, and untrustworthy.
Have you taken a hard look at your own supply chain? Are you doing all you can to mitigate the possibility of key suppliers reporting misleading information, shipping sub-par products, or otherwise cutting corners in ways that could come back to haunt your business? How can you protect yourself?
Jim Lawton, General Manager of D&B SMS, offers a few sound recommendations in his article, “Massive Recalls: Where Is Your Supply Chain Vulnerable?” published on Wednesday at IndustryWeek.com.
Like me, Lawton is a strong proponent of collaboration.“Based on the current relationship in place between many manufacturers and suppliers across industries, collaboration may seem impossible in an environment steeped in mistrust, but it’s the only option,” he says.
But, don’t stop there.
Lawton also advises that you should exercise what some might consider reverse logic. He wants you to expect suppliers to fail –however, as Lawton carefully points out, that doesn’t mean you have to let them take you with them.
The economy is still sputtering, and so now is the time to boost collaboration even more by sharing your own operational data and information. (Collaboration is a two-way street, after all.) Plus, it’s critical that you have a warning system in place that can signal potential supplier uncertainty, Lawton says.
