@Risk

Today’s supply chains are global, elongated and enormously complex.

Of course, that also means they’re riskier and more unpredictable than ever before.

How can supply chain managers maintain integrity, stability and clarity in what can easily become a nasty hornet’s nest? And now that many suppliers feel far-removed from their customers, how can you mitigate the risk of irresponsible suppliers –you know, the ones that put their own interests above yours?

Answers to questions like those are almost as complex as supply chains themselves, but Mark Vandenbosch and Stephen Sapp do a nice job breaking down the key issues in their article, Keep Your Suppliers Honest, published last week in The Wall Street Journal. According to the authors, mitigating risks from irresponsible suppliers boils down to four fundamental tasks.

In short, you need to: (more…)

Mexico continues to be a positive business proposition for many companies. However there’s no doubt that it is becoming increasingly more challenging –and more costly –to mitigate risks to operations, supply chains and personnel there.

Consider this: Since 2006, more than 24,000 people have been killed in drug violence in Mexico, and as an article in The Dallas Morning News puts it: (more…)

Counterfeiters continue to infiltrate the global pharmaceutical supply chain, and increasingly now thay appear to be targeting high-value drugs, such as HIV antivirals and cancer treatments, according to FiercePharmaManufacturing.

In fact, in Germany, dozens of pharmacies are currently under investigation for suspected distribution of illegal and fake drugs, including painkillers, antibiotics and cancer treatments, as well as so-called “lifestyle medicines,” such as impotency drugs and bodybuilding products. This high-profile case seems especially troubling because, among other things, the pharmacists are alleged to have mixed illegally-acquired medicines with genuine product. (more…)

A voluntary system to trace livestock movement across state lines has fallen short of expectations, and so the US Department of Agriculture is drafting more stringent regulations.

Federal officials are working on a new system that involves mandatory regulations because they want to make it easier to track diseases such as brucellosis and tuberculosis in livestock.  According to an article in The Billings Gazette, more than 19 million of the nation’s 30 million beef cows and 9 million dairy cows crossed state lines in 2009. But, data from 2006 and 2007 show that only about one quarter (28 percent) of the nation’s adult cattle had any form of official identification that would allow them to be tracked.

Although this animal disease traceability system is focused on animal health, it can also help promote a safe, healthy food supply. For example, a USDA fact sheet says that: (more…)

Margaret Hamburg, the Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, is visiting China for the first time since she was appointed, and I was pleased to hear that in her remarks last Friday she said that China is working towards improving its oversight of exporters.

According to an AP article, Hamburg said that Chinese officials she spoke with were pursuing a “common agenda” to improve manufacturing practices and regulation of complex supply chains for the food and drug industries. In addition, she reported feeling “very encouraged by the partnership” developing between China and the US. (more…)