@Risk

The Small Business Optimism Index lost 1.3 points in February, falling back to the December reading of 88.0 and landing only 7 points higher than the survey’s second-lowest reading reached in March 2009, reports the National Federation of Independent Business. (The index’s lowest reading was 80.1 in 1980.)

The persistence of Index readings below 90 is unprecedented since surveys were started in 1986.

Small business owners continue to cite poor sales as their top problem. The net percent of all owners (seasonally adjusted) reporting higher nominal sales in the past three months remained negative at negative 26 percent, unchanged from January’s reading.

And without sales: (more…)

Nearly half (45 percent) of the supply chain professionals recently surveyed by global logistics firm BDP International and its Centrx consulting unit indicated they are supporting their internal regulatory compliance departments with external resources. Not surprisingly, the need for supplemental compliance services was especially pronounced for companies with under $1 billion in annual revenues and for those doing business in emerging markets.

Growing concerns over environmental and safety issues have created a complicated tangle of trade and security programs that now impact importers, exporters and essentially, all stages of product manufacture and distribution. Compliance with new regulations such as the EU REACH and U.S. Importer’s Security Filing 10+2 programs can be both complex and costly, and findings from the survey suggest that companies typically deal with product-related regulations such as registration, labeling and marked, themselves, while outsourcing compliance for product  movement.

Here are a few more survey results I found particularly intriguing: (more…)

For Toyota, the bad news just keeps coming.

Now, ABC News is reporting that U.S. regulators are reviewing more than 60 complaints that the fixes made on Toyota cars recalled for unintended acceleration have not solved the problem.

Toyota says a partial review of these complaints has found no evidence of failure in the electronic throttle system or in the repairs. The company also says it hasn’t found problems in the brake override system.

Still, there’s no doubt that news like this is making a very bad situation even worse.  As Toyota technology chief Takeshi Uchiyamada told ABC News, “The Toyota brand is in a deep crisis.”

How did we get to this point, where long-revered Toyota supply chain management strategies are now a cautionary tale? What lessons can be learned from this devastating series of global safety-related recalls? (more…)

Earlier this week, in keeping with the Obama administration’s renewed commitment to transparency, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt directed the release of a summary description of the largely classified Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative.

(This initiative, officially known as the National Security Presidential Directive 54 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23, was originally established by the Bush administration back in January 2008.)

The five-page declassified document outlines twelve major proposals designed to help secure the United States in cyberspace, and it’s significant that among this list of a dozen priorities there’s recognition of the growing risks associated with today’s complex global supply chains, particularly those in the commercial information and communications technology marketplace.

From the summary description: (more…)

There’s encouraging news in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business.

According to the report, the overall economy grew for the tenth consecutive month during February. Plus, economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew for the seventh consecutive month, and employment numbers showed growth for the third month in a row.

The 11 manufacturing industries reporting growth in February — listed in order — are: (more…)