@Risk

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…)

Supply chain flexibility requires considerable investment, as well as a top-down commitment from C-level execs.

However, that “extra” effort is proving very worthwhile, as companies that implement operational flexibility are now realizing significant business benefits, according to new survey results released last week by PRTM.

Based on interviews with senior executives from 150 companies across diverse industries, the new research identifies five specific “levers” that increase operational flexibility, drive revenues and cut costs. According to PRTM, companies that have implemented the five supply chain flexibility levers have achieved, on average, a 12 to 15 percent revenue increase while reducing supply chain costs by eight to 10 percent.

Here are a few survey results, grouped around PRTM’s supply chain flexibility levers: (more…)