International supply chains are becoming increasingly complex over time. A consequence of this is that it becomes increasingly difficult to spot vulnerabilities and risk in a timely manner. This most notably applies to cyber risk, which increases as complexity does, worsened perhaps by our desire to use technology to mitigate the very complexity that is at the root of its need. Read more
A question that has been skirting around the industry over recent years is: ‘are supply chain professionals really safe from automation?’ Is the constant flow of news that supply chain jobs are safe from robots really true, or is it an echo chamber of what we want to believe? Has anyone been strong enough to really look into this, without an agenda of fear? Read more
Supply Chains are a complex and fluid network of companies, relationships and transactions. Even minor disruptions upstream in a supply chain can have a bullwhip effect and become major issues. Take cars for example; they’re typically comprised of 30,000 parts and it only takes one of those parts to fail to cause a recall, creating additional costs and the risk of reputational damage to the car brand. Supply chain professionals are only too aware of these risks, but now finance professionals are also taking note.
The short answer to why EU companies are moving their supply chains away from the UK is, of course, Brexit. Since the UK vote to leave the European Union there has been lot’s of anecdotal discussion on companies that may move their supply chain out of the UK, but we’re now seeing hard facts come from some industry bodies. We know Brexit is the reason, but why? Is this a long term or short term problem? And how can we respond to it? Read more
In the supply chain industry, we often make decisions based on generalised information which we take as fact. This can be a dangerous business as in reality many of these ‘truths’ are often misconceived, misinterpreted, or in the worst situations, simply untrue. In this article, we explore five misconceptions and misinterpretations and offer the actual facts to support better decision making in the supply chain. Read more
On May 25th this year, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws come into effect. GDPR will replace the current Data Protection Act 1988 and the new regulation places greater emphasis on data privacy. Even though this legislation is controlled by the European Union, the UK government has confirmed that it will be transposed into UK law as part of the Brexit process. Furthermore, it is unlikely to be amended by the UK as it will be a key requirement for any companies trading with the European Union. Read more