@Risk

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…)

Given the unpredictable economy and sluggish unemployment rates, it probably comes as no surprise, but the latest online shopping poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Offers.com shows that nearly half of US adults (45 percent) plan to spend less this coming holiday season than they did last year.

42 percent of those surveyed said they intend to spend about the same amount as they did last year. Only 11 percent plan to spend more.

The study, which polled 1,001 US adults aged 18+, also revealed intriguing insights about current preferences for online vs. offline shopping. For example: (more…)

Many of the digital and “green” technologies that we now take for granted contain certain metals which previously have been of little interest. Consequently, production of these rare earth elements (REEs) is concentrated in a small handful of countries, leaving the global supply at considerable risk.

Just how high is the risk?

A new assessment from the British Geological Survey (BSG) gives us some insight.

BSG’s new ‘Risk List’ ranks the risk to global supply of 52 chemical elements of economic value.  BSG estimated supply risk using the abundance, production and reserves of the element and governance factors for the producing countries and found that: (more…)

Toyota Motor Corp is revamping its supply chain, so that it can recover within two weeks after a massive earthquake like the one that devastated Japan this spring.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami forced Toyota and other Japanese automakers to suspend much of their production for months. Even today, some parts of the supply chain have not been fully restored.

But now, Toyota is busy establishing a buffer against supply chain risks, Reuters reports.

According to the article, the company is focusing its efforts on three main areas: (more…)