Accountability and visibility – Easier said than done

After the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in April 2013, calls for more accountability and visibility along the garment supply chain rang through the international media. Toward the end of 2013, four of the brands that were producing garments in Rana Plaza pledged a total of $40 million to a compensation fund for the families of the more than 1,100 factory collapse victims. However, many other brands refused to contribute. The Rana Plaza disaster highlighted questionable practices found along the international clothing supply chain. With pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, creating an accountable and transparent clothing supply chain could remain elusive in 2014.

Click here to read the full article

UK food supply trends for 2014

Sainsbury’s, one of the UK’s largest supermarkets, set out to identify some of the major food supply trends for 2014. On the heels of a challenging 2013, which included beef contamination and difficult weather patterns, Sainsbury’s decided to ask 115 of its farmers what they believe 2014 has in store for the food supply. One pressing issue identified by 86% of respondents is the lack of future farmers. The average age of farmers is 50, and young farming professionals are hard to come by. Also, with recent advancements in science, many of the farmers polled believe that an extension of product varieties is in order for 2014.

To read about further food supply trends for 2014, click here.

Reducing supplier risk with innovation

Managing supplier risk is key to having an overall successful supply chain. Simply having alternate suppliers for when times get tough is not enough to battle the plethora of risks facing organizations. Proper assessment of a supplier’s quality is one step that helps mitigate risk. Managers are now provided with advanced tools that can help determine the level of quality a specific supplier brings to the table. Effective supplier quality management programs using a combination of outside analytics including big data and cloud computing can help ensure suppliers meet a certain standard. Additionaly, keeping track of second and third tier suppliers could prove helpful when trying to reduce risk. This, of course, is a daunting task given the state of our globalized economy and requires organizations to be proactive in their approach to multi-tier supply chain management.

Click here to read more about supply chain risk mitigation

Have a great weekend!