As long as we are contemplating supply chain challenges, here's some news from Managing Automation (registration required):
Here's the problem with supply chain management (SCM) software in a nutshell: The more you spend to fix the problems with your supply chain, the more you realize how many more problems you actually have. This paradox is fueling interest in the supply chain as never before.
At the core of that interest is the fact that supply chains are more complex and mission-critical than ever before. And despite the billions spent on SCM in the past decade or so, the risks associated with supply chains are growing, not diminishing.
This article is focused mostly on the 'big-bang' risks of supply chain - of the natural disaster variety. Those certainly exist. It's also concerned in the context of what makes supply chain risk "such a complicated phenomenon in the 21st century is the interconnectivity of suppliers, OEMs, customers, and markets". True as well.
But it's also true as well that increading complexity due to SKU explosion, retail compliance, 3PL emergence, and other significant market dynamics raise day-to-day operational risk.
As Mr. Greenbaum says:
Supply chain management is nothing without risk management, and the time to look for a solution is now ... before the next disaster strikes.
