In a post-Rana Plaza world, one can only wonder how best to gauge the ethics and worker safety behind our garment-manufacturing industry. The Goliath that the fashion industry has become begs the question whether it's even possible to ensure suppliers do the right thing.
Many of the key priorities of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are "strikingly similar" to those of Walmart, executives of the retail giant's Asia Pacific arm say. That includes supporting the economic empowerment of women, increasing speed and efficiency in supply chain and sourcing operations, adding new stores and infrastructure, playing a leadership role in food security and sustainability - all shared goals not only critical to Walmart's success but to people, communities and entire economies alike.
As an industry, global consumer products companies have historically underinvested in plants and manufacturing capabilities. In fact, a significant number of organizations may still be running their operations on equipment and processes that were last updated in the prior millennium. Under these circumstances, throughput can rarely keep pace with current needs. At the same time, many of these same companies have made one or more large acquisitions that slow the supply chain down even more: duplication and redundancy at the plant level; disparate operating and ERP systems that cloud visibility; and manual processes that consumed valuable resources.
Five years after the onset of the global recession of 2008-2009, the sluggish pace of recovery and worries over employment and financial security continue to weigh heavily on consumer sentiment in developed economies. Consumers remain highly concerned about their jobs, personal finances, and economic future. Yet amid the lingering angst expressed in The Boston Consulting Group's 2013 Global Consumer Sentiment Survey, there are also encouraging signs.
The demand for speed, re-invention, agility and innovation in business so dramatically increased over the last five years that it has required that CIOs move beyond business improvement to business transformation, according to a survey by Epicor software in conjunction with the UK's The Manufacturer magazine.
Pockets of the U.S. are primed for growth thanks to pro-business regulatory environments, educated workforces and reasonable business costs. Leading the way is Virginia which tops Forbes' eighth annual list of the Best States for Business. Virginia has ranked second the past three years, but returns to the head of the pack for the first time since 2009.
Despite gradual improvement since the summer of 2009 - the official end of the Great Recession - the U.S. unemployment rate remains unacceptably high. But don't tell that to companies in search of supply-chain talent.
At a time when technological innovations offer new growth opportunities for the manufacturing sector, a lack of talent from "rising generations" threatens its future vitality, according to ThomasNet.com's Industry Market Barometer research.