@Risk

3PLs and their customers appear to be misunderstanding each other’s priorities.

For example, the recently published Global 3PL & Logistics Outsourcing Strategy Report 2011-12, from eyefortransport, found that:

• 36 percent of 3PLs believe lowest price is the most important factor for shippers when choosing a new 3PL, as opposed to best quality service (30 percent).  Shippers, on the other hand, rate best quality service as the most important factor (64 percent) and lowest price as far less important than 3PLs expect (15 percent).
• When it comes to the non-renewal of existing 3PL contracts, 3PLs overestimated the importance of their competitors offering a cheaper price by a dramatic 49 percent.

This kind of fundamental disconnect needs to be addressed so the industry can successfully face the challenges that lie ahead.

“This year’s survey findings really reinforced some of the trends we’ve seen for the last 18 months,” said eyefortransport’s Executive Director, Katharine O’Reilly.  “The insights are not really unexpected, but when you see figures like this, especially in areas where 3PLs and their customers are fundamentally misunderstanding each other’s priorities, we really sit up and take note.  These are gaps in understanding that need to be filled if the industry is to move forward and grow as it should.”

In other findings: (more…)

Despite the economic roller coaster of the past few years –or perhaps because of it –Americans continue to value a strong manufacturing sector.

The third annual Public Viewpoint on Manufacturing survey, recently released by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, found once again that the vast majority of those polled consider America’s manufacturing base “important” or “very important” to their standard of living.

The research, which included a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans in August across all 50 states, indicates a consistently high regard for manufacturing, both in terms of its role in the US economy and our global standing, as well as in terms of its importance in job creation. Among the survey highlights: (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…)

Health care executives now face a variety of unprecedented demands, many of which center on their relatively new networks of extensive global supply chains.

In fact, the combination of extended supply chains due to globalization and the introduction of more specialized products into the marketplace has many health care executives particularly concerned about regulatory compliance, product integrity and security, according to new results from the fourth annual Pain in the (Supply) Chain survey from UPS.

More specifically, the survey, which  questioned senior-level healthcare supply chain executives at pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies in the US, Europe and Asia, found that:
(more…)

Businesses today want to enhance their performance, and intriguing new research from KPMG indicates that firms are turning to shared service models and internal process improvements in order to meet those goals.

More than half (59 percent) of those polled in the KPMG 2Q11 Sourcing Advisory Pulse Survey said they anticipate greater demand from clients for shared services delivery models.  Most (51 percent) also saw more demand for internal process improvement. Interestingly, outsourcing demand remained flat, including both business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT outsourcing (ITO).

In other findings:
(more…)