Growth for container shipping lines. International container shipping is an undifferentiated industry – a container is a container and the ships are very similar. To grow their individual businesses, options for shipping companies are to increase volume, reduce unit cost or to construct a vertically integrated business. But what could be the effect on customers’ supply chains? To achieve their … Read More
Region, not global, supply chains for future trade
Supply chains will change. Commentators typically use the term ‘globalisation’ when describing international trade; however, the actual situation is a gradual reduction in global trade and growth in intra-region trade. Therefore, as in the past and over time, supply chains will change. Decisions concerning change to supply chains are influenced by at least four factors: geography; regional development; existing and … Read More
Change your Supply Chains in 100 days
Geopolitics and Supply Chains This is the challenge for some Supply Chain professionals in Britain and Europe. While a supply network for an enterprise is aimed at achieving a least total cost situation, national governments can take action or reach agreements that may negatively affect an organisation’s supply chains. Prominent examples in the media through 2018 have been the renegotiation … Read More
Supply Planning starts the flows in your supply chains
Procurement and its role. Selling products and services builds a market and your business; effective supply chains enhances customer satisfaction and increases the profit margin. Increases in the profit margin requires that flows of items through your supply chains are planned and managed by an effective organisation structure, able to address the improvement initiatives necessary in competitive markets. The structure of … Read More
Link commercial and control systems in supply chains
SCADA systems. Recent blogs have discussed the advancement in technologies that make it potentially easier to have connected supply chains. However, the lack of enthusiasm by enterprises and application software suppliers for this to happen requires supply chain professionals to focus in the near term on improving their core supply chains. An area for possible improvement is the implementation or … Read More