In this episode Tony Hines introduces the topic of supply chain skills necessary to enter careers in supply chain management. In conversation with two special guests Dr Regina Frei, Associate Professor at Southampton University Business School and Dr Eoin Plant-O'Toole, Associate Professor at Napier University, Edinburgh he asks them what they think are the skills needed to build a career in supply chains. Both guests have new courses that they have developed in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and they speak about the curricula they have developed to support new entrants and experienced managers too.
Dr Eoin Plant-O'Toole is also involved with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and transport (CILT) and he leads the Policy Committee in Ireland and he told us a little about that work and why it is important to network to build contacts to support your career development.
Oil prices steadied this week but consumer and business costs are still rising as a result of recent increases. Food inflation is giving cause for concern. This week as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues many of the world's largest brands have pulled out of Russia closing plants, retail stores and pausing operations. Payment system providers such as Visa, Mastercard and Pay Pal have also withdrawn. Shipping volumes to Russia fell by 40 per cent in the first week of March. Many Russian flagged or owned ships have been turned away from UK ports in the past week. Some big freight companies such as Maersk are no longer sailing in or out of Russian ports.
Maersk is also developing green fuels to power its new ships. Sony and Honda have formed a joint company to produce electric vehicles. Container dwell times have led to increased criminal activities at seaports.
Link to report mentioned in podcast: This report explores the use of EPR, which sees producers cover the costs of dealing with textiles at their end of life, as a mechanism through which to drive circularity in the textiles market. The report recommends the implementation of EPR alongside supporting measures that incentivise eco-design.
This is why you should listen to the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage. Evidenced based opinion delivered directly to you about everything happening in supply chains affecting business. Stay informed about supply chains by listening to Chain Reaction – subscribe today.
In this special edition we take a look at the adoption of redistributive manufacturing(RDM) as a means of making health care supply chains more resilient. Tony Hines speaks with Professor Wendy Phillips who is professor of innovation at Bristol Business School, University of West England and a leading researcher in this field.
RDM has potential to engage local communities to become co-producers in providing products and services at the point of consumption and to customize them to meet the specific need of service users. Professor Phillips talks about her research giving many examples of the benefits that such a supply chain reconfiguration can bring and also discusses the wider potential application of RDM across different sectors.
This is why you should listen to the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage. Evidenced based opinion delivered directly to you about everything happening in supply chains affecting business. Stay informed about supply chains by listening to Chain Reaction – subscribe today.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine dominated news headlines this week. We take a look at the implications for global supply chains.
We also take a look at California's 22 point plan to combat plastic waste along with a new tax on plastic packaging in the UK.
Public procurement may need to take a look at the wider geopolitical implications of procurement and not simply choose suppliers offering the best price.
Listen to the full round up here.
This is why you should listen to the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage. Evidenced based opinion delivered directly to you about everything happening in supply chains affecting business. Stay informed about supply chains by listening to Chain Reaction – subscribe today.
This is a short extract from a forthcoming episode on resilient supply chains in healthcare where Professor Wendy Phillips from Bristol Business School discusses redistributed manufacturing as a strategy to improve timeliness to meet patient needs better.
In this episode Tony Hines takes a look at the philosophy behind supply chains in our material world. We also look at the whole area of reverse supply chains with special guest Dr Regina Frei, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Southampton University. We look at how some customers cost us more than others as well as how some suppliers are more costly to deal with than others and we have the usual news round up from round the globe.
The growth of internet retail has caused an increasing problem for the retail sector of processing returns to minimise cost and the impact on their bottom line. According to KPMG returns can reduce profits by 30 per cent. The average cost of returns is 10 per cent. Manufacturers and retailers are said to spend $100 billion on returns. In the UK alone retail returns are about £7 billion. A single return costs about £10 but remember this is an average figure. Some returns cost more. When it comes to returning products you are effectively reversing the supply chain process moving goods back from consumers to suppliers. There are many reasons why people need to return goods. It may be damage to products, wrong item delivered, not fit for purpose or simply that the customer changed their mind. It will depend on the returns policy how each business deals with returns. Dr Regina Frei is our special guest who will discuss this with us today. You can also read some of Gina's research by following the links here:
This is the weekly round up of everything happening in global supply chains.
Inflation is still the biggest story everywhere with input costs rising. The pandemic has been blamed for lowering ouput and supply chain disruptions. Governments in Europe and the United States are trying to deflect criticism for consumer price inflation at its highest level for 30 years in the UK at 5.5% and at 7.5% in the US the highest figure in 40 years. Not since the 1980s has the US seen this level of inflation.
Canada – Ottawa protests disrupting the border crossing between the US and Canada have been brought under control and goods are flowing again.
Microchips, Container Boxes and Labor are all in short supply listen to the Round Up to find out more.
Storm Eunice added to the UK supply chain disruptions this week.
Uncertainty over Russia and Ukraine is adding to inflationary pressures.
Reverse supply chains is the next episode coming your way next week – be sure to listen.
We hear a lot about trucks and ships but we don’t hear much about air freight. In this episode Tony Hines takes a look at the world’s largest airport and the part it plays in cargo movement. About 1.7 million metric tonnes of cargo pass through Heathrow annually. Heathrow Airport is the UK’s largest airport. It has two runways and wants to add a third as it deals with passenger volumes around 80 million people prior to the pandemic annually and it expects to develop capacity to increase that number. The two runways can handle the largest planes. The airport has air bridges for 133 aircraft, 64 outfield stands and 15 cargo stands. About 32% of traffic is cargo and 67% is passenger movement. Heathrow handles more cargo than Felixstowe, Southampton and Liverpool together. It handles 70% of all air cargo in the UK. Heathrow has 84 airlines flying to 203 destinations in 83 countries. It has recently published its strategy to pay supply chain workers more and to improve conditions for people and businesses using the airport as well as reducing its carbon footprint. It is also working to improve air quality for people living nearby.
HOTELS
We don’t often hear hotels and supply chains in the same sentence but hotels depend on supply chains to deliver service to their customers. We take a look at some of the problems they have been coping with to keep supply chains flowing. Apparently costs have risen for some products by 80 per cent.
CYBER CRIME
The recent attacks by criminal groups using ransome attacks to lockdown computer systems have caused serious problems for businesses that are targeted. KP was one of the most recent victims and it has disrupted their supply chains.
NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK IN THE UK
A good way to attract new entrants into supply chain careers. Business apprenticeships give entrants an opportunity to earn, learn and get qualified as a supply chain professional.
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS Reverse Supply Chains with Guest Dr Regina Frei, Resilient Suply Chains in Healthcare with Guest Professor Wendy Phillips, and Supply Chain Roles, Careers and Courses. Remember to follow the Chain Reaction Podcast to stay tuned – never miss an episode. Tell others about the program too, don't keep it to yourself.
RE-ORGANIZING THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR RESILIENCE –GO LOCAL Many businesses including retailers have slowly been reconfiguering their supply chains to go local when it comes to geeting their supplies.
INSTITUTE OF SUPPLY MANAGEMENT I attended a great webinar and was reminded about what supply chains are all about and I share that here.
US INFLATION HITS A FORTY YEAR HIGH AT 7% year on year. A large proportion of this increase is due to rents. Grocery prices and general product price increases due to continuing supply chain disruptions also contribute. In the UK some housebuilders are increasing their prices for new homes by as much as 17%.
UNILEVER one of the biggest brands in food retailing say they will be increasing prices across all product lines in 2022 to improve profitability.
A POULTRY PROBLEM IN THE UK Dues to a shortage of butchers the processing of pigs has come to a halt and farmers are having to cull their stocks because they can't afford to keep feeding them.
PROBLEMS AT THE CANADIAN BORDER The Ambassador Bridge remains closed because of protests and this is having serious consequences for the movement of goods across the US-Canadian Border. This type of disruption is becoming more frequent not only in Canda but in Europe too.
This is a short preview of a forthcoming episode. Tony Hines talks to Dr Regina Frei who tells us about her research in this area. Listen to the brief extract from that interview which will be available shortly.
Supply Chain News from around the globe. This week Tony Hines looks at the continuing CO2 production problems for the UK Food Industry returning to a story that hit the headlines back in August 2021. CF a US company has two fertilizer production plants in the UK one at Ince near Warrington and the other in Durham. CO2 which is a byproduct of fertilizer production is sold to the UK Food and Drinks industry. It provides most of the supply. The UK Government provided a financial package back in August that kept supplies moving. The cause of the problem is the high cost of energy forcing CF to stop production of Fertilizer. Now the financial package has ended and there is no sign of lower priced energy CF intend to stop production once again to cut their cost. This will cause problems for the UK Food and Drinks Industry unless a solution is found.
On a visit to his local supermarket Tony Hines noticed that in-store space had been reduced. On further investigation he discovered that this is down to supply chain disruptions as stores are reclaiming more space for onsite storage for goods. He followed up by looking at the demand for warehousing space during the past year. You can find out more listening to the episode.
Inflation is pushing up prices in the US and UK. Year on year at the end of 2021 it was 6.2% in the US and 5.4% in the UK. Supply chain disruptions have added to the woes. This is likely to continue pushing up the cost of goods during the first half of 2022. Production problems due to Covid 19 along with port delays, slow turnaround of container boxes, transportation and increasing fuel and energy costs are likely to ensure inflationary pressures persist in 2022. Added to this is the threat of Russia moving into Ukraine and the impact that this will have on supply chains causing severe disruptions to some critical products including commodities and energy. Wholesale gas prices are likely to remain high as a consequence. For countries reliant on gas for a high proportion of their energy for industry and domestic supply this will cause product shortages and higher costs for everyone. The energy market is what economists refer to as an oligopolistic supply controlled by a relatively small number of organizations. This means that one or a small number of suppliers can have a high impact on prices paid by businesses and consumers downstream. In simple terms governments have put all their eggs in one basket when it comes to energy. A lot more investment is required into finding multiple sources that can spread the risk, maintain price stability and achieve the goal of reducing pollution.
The Northern Ireland Protocol remains problematic with customs checks increasing from January 2022 and mid-year this needs to be given attention if Northern Ireland is not to become a poor relation. Direct shipments to the island of Ireland have increased from European Ports which has impacted the trade conducted between Holyhead and Ireland.The economics of these trade routes have been severely disrupted. Many of the journeys now come directly from EU ports to Ireland to cross the land border to the North. This has added cost to operations.
Inputs of materials are in short supply of between 6-8% and outputs shortages 4-6% as a consequence of supply chain disruptions. Semi-conductors are one item in short supply but there is news of some big investment happening that will improve this situation in the next two years. We take a look at the likely impact of disrupted supply chains if Russia invades Ukraine. We also consider the consequences of port delays, increased dwell times and the liklihood of further disruptions in 2022.