@Risk

New orders for manufactured goods rose for the second consecutive month in December, the US Department of Commerce reported on Friday.

In addition:

• Shipments increased 0.7 percent –up for the seventh consecutive month.
• Unfilled orders increased 1.4 percent –now up 20 of the last 21 months.
• Inventories increased 0.1 percent –up 26 of the last 27 months.

The latest report from the Institute for Supply Management also showed signs of improvement. According to the ISM Report On Business, economic activity in the non-manufacturing sector grew in January for the 25^th consecutive month.

ISM’s research found that the 12 non-manufacturing industries reporting growth in January were (in order): (more…)

Results of the 2011 Change in the (Supply) Chain survey show that many Japanese high-tech companies are shifting supply sourcing locations from domestic to other Asian countries, such as South East Asia.

More specifically, the survey, which was conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights and commissioned by UPS, revealed that:

• The Japanese companies interviewed expect to reduce their domestic supply sourcing by nearly half, from 96 percent to 53 percent in the next three to five years.
• These companies also expect to increase sourcing from Mature Asia Pacific Countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore) almost threefold, from 9 percent to 24 percent.

The key concern appears to be cost management. More than two-thirds (68.9 percent) of the Japanese companies surveyed cited “reducing total supply chain costs” as the top supply chain priority in the past years. Not surprisingly, cost is also expected to remain one of the top drivers of change in the supply chain in the next three to five years. (more…)

Supply chain failures continue to plague companies worldwide.

A recent study conducted by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) found that a full 85 percent of the companies surveyed recorded at least one supply chain disruption in 2011. Interestingly, 40 percent of those disruptions originated further down the supply chain, past first tiers suppliers.

The research, which analyzed responses from more than 550 organizations across more than 60 countries, also revealed that: (more…)

Supplier collaboration is essential to supply chain risk management, and as PRTM has shown, companies that have implemented operational flexibility and collaborative initiatives are now realizing significant business benefits.

Unfortunately, though, building collaborative relationships with suppliers is often easier said than done.

Even though virtually every aspect of our work day has been transformed by Web 2.0 communication platforms, these technologies have been slow to infiltrate supply chain management. In fact, most companies today still rely on phone, fax, email and spreadsheets for collaboration with suppliers. These methods are frustrating, costly, inefficient –and perhaps worst of all, they’re risky, too.

Shouldn’t there be a better way?

At Aravo, we think there absolutely should be a better way. And that’s why this week we released Aravo Assure^TM, an innovative web-based B2B social network built to revolutionize the way businesses engage, share data and collaborate.

The concept is relatively simple . . . and long overdue. Using Aravo Assure’s^TM Enterprise 2.0 technology, trading partners are empowered with an industrial-strength collaboration platform and many-to-many communications framework designed to facilitate information exchange, while reducing the expense and administrative burden on both parties. That means Aravo Assure^TM makes it easier than ever before for suppliers and buyers to build robust, collaborative relationships –the kind of relationships that ultimately, mitigate supply chain risk. (more…)

Now that labor costs in China are on the rise, high-tech companies in Asia are exploring alternative sourcing locations within the region, as well as in North America.

In fact, according to new research from UPS, half of all high-tech trade lanes in five years’ time are expected to involve intra-Asia movements.

The annual survey, conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights, polled senior-level decision makers at high-tech companies in the Asia Pacific region. The results show that: (more…)