Three times in the past year, including just last month, the Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings that counterfeit cancer drugs originating overseas infiltrated the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain, putting patients at risk.
Social and environmental compliance are the main issues facing today's apparel supply chains, according to industry experts consulted by just-style. The continued shift towards faster and faster fashion cycles, along with pressure on retailers to adapt to an omni-channel experience, is also throwing up challenges when it comes to flexibility in global sourcing.
The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have announced that the Multilateral Electronic Air Waybill (e-AWB) standard has been approved, removing the need for bilateral e-AWB agreements between airlines and freight forwarders and thus simplifying the air freight supply chain process.
Gartner's been gazing at its crystal ball again, and has forecast that service-led solutions - software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and so forth - will displace more traditional sourcing methods by 2015.
Wal-Mart is considering a radical plan to have store customers deliver packages to online buyers, a new twist on speedier delivery services that the company hopes will enable it to better compete with Amazon.com.
Richard Bank and Lisa Harrington, directors of the Sustainable Supply Chain Foundation, bring us up to date on the group's efforts to introduce third-party verification of companies' sustainability programs.
A manufacturing renaissance is taking place in the United States. According to a recent MIT study, 14 percent of manufacturers have made definite plans to move some of their currently offshore production back stateside. An additional 30 percent are considering it. The common term being used for this is reshoring. The reshoring trend is growing and can garner goodwill with domestic customers, consumers and even legislators. But any careful decision to reshore or expand domestic manufacturing capacity will be predicated on goodwill benefits and growing profitability.