Archives 2023

All things impacting global supply chains this week with Tony Hines

This week's earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has shown the devastation natural disaster has when it strikes.  if you would like to make a donation please go to Https://dec.org.uk to do so.

• Maersk publishes 4th Q 2022 profits – Profits remain high overall for 2022 but prices for sea freight is falling 
• British Volt was the only UK based EV battery plant until it ran oiut of cash. This week and Australian Business has bid for for BV
• More optimistic forecasts out this week may mean a better year ahead than previously thought
• US China Trade still difficult especially in technology markets – Control of rare earth metals will create unprecedented power in supply chains
• Data warehouses – will they cost the earth?
• President Joe Biden delivered his state of the union address – see what this means for supply chains
• EV chargers will limit market growth – proprietorial connectors are also problematic
• Supply Chain Visibility Report CIPS/Deloittes 
• Rail freight unions win long standing dispute with a satisfactory outcome for US Freightworkers
• Turkey – Syria Earthquake Appeal – see donation site above if you can help
• Stop by and pick up any episodes that you have missed

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In this episode Tony Hines talks to Dr Regina Frei and Professor Diego Vasquez Brust about their research into plastic waste in four European Cities. The research project is PlastiCity. Researchers involved are investigating commercial waste in the four cities:Ghent (Belgium) The Hague (The Netherlands), Southend-On-Sea (UK), and Douai (France).

Waste owners, designers, recyclers, policy makers, NGOs, waste management companies, logistic companies, plastic manufacturers and universities work together in PlastiCity to create innovative and local circular business models within the plastic value chain. You can follow the project outcomes at:-
https://www.plasticityproject.eu/

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Tony Hines discusses how political, economic, social and technological change influences supply chain strategies (PEST).

The external environment influences the strategies we  implement. Political change such as wars,  policies towards pandemics and trade such as Brexit in the UK or Trade Wars with China in the US all come under the political influences. What happens in the political sphere impacts strategies we are able to design for our supply chains. Economic policies also impact or impair our ability to act as we would like. For example, changes to taxes, exchange rates or trade regulations. Social change will affect so many aspects of what we do in supply chains. It may change buying behaviors for customers and it will determine what suppliers decide to do too.  The final part of the equation focuses on technologies available at the time. The example in the episode discusses bar codes and RFID tags. We now have many ways in which we can have supply chain visibility.  

#industry4 # internet of things #sensors #visibility #customerfocus

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Tony Hines talks about the application of systems thinking to improve supply chain practices.

Systems Thinking is an approach developed by Peter Checkland to understand the system. The system that Checkland concerned himself with was an organization and its human interactions with physical space, technical systems and places / locations in a temporal dimension. Supply chain systems are such a system. Checkland's approach became synonymous with 'Soft Systems' because of the people within the system that is, the agents of change.

CATWOE is the mnemonic that describes the approach:
C = Customer/Client – Beneficiary of the system
A = Agents/ actors in the system
T = Transformations involved in the system
W = World-view
O = Owner of the system problem
E = Environment

Examining interconnections and interactions within each part of the system enables us to describe the whole system. It has many applications including understanding supply chain systems.

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This is a special edition discussing some of the issues from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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All things impacting global supply chains this week:

• Port of Antwerp Bruges New Gen Circular Economy Project to build a plastic recycling plant at the Port.
• Mario Paganini from Stord writes about doing more with less.
• Hapag Lloyd FE9 managing ocean freight demand and over capacity.
• Port of Georgia handled 6 million TEUs in 2022.
• James E Martin comments on the Procurement Professionals Survey conducted at the end of December. More investment is needed in technology. What do the C suite not understand about supply chains?
• Climate change impacting ocean going supply chains. Port designers have their work cut out to meet the challenges. University of Oxford Report.
  International trade and world economies exposed to multi-billion-dollar climate risk to ports – Oxford study | University of Oxford
• Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC reported downturns in global sea traffic. Noted that there are four trends painting a picture of the future supply chain.
• Veronica Bates Kassatly commented on CHG emissions in the Fashion Industry and a recent McKinsey Report
• More cyber attacks disrupting supply chains.
• British Volt finally bowed out as the juice ran out this week.
• Tessla's 2016 staged video report emerges 
• Automated Trucks

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In this episode Tony Hines takes a look at the questions we need to ask when we want to solve a problem in the supply chain.

• What
• Where
• When
• Who
• How
• Why

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Tony Hines assesses the economic outlook for 2023 and what it might mean for supply chains, businesses and consumers.

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All things impacting global supply chains this week.

• Container prices fall as demand and congestion eases
• Amazon announces 18,000 lay offs
• UK new car sales hit a 30 year low in 2022 but likely to grow in 2023
• Tessla car sales fall to lowest level in 5 months
• Dell is looking to phase out China made chips because of US blacklisting
• Oil prices fell 9% in the first two trading days of 2023
• Russia is sending Arctic Crude Oil to India and China at big discounts
• Retail figures for the holiday period are in for the UK
• Cost of living is switching consumer buying habits
• Food inflation 13. 3% (BRC) and 14.4% (Kantar) in the UK and up 16.5% in the US
• Aldi forced to cancel special buys as a consequence of supply chain disruptions
• UK Grocery sales hit £12 billion 
• Sales growth figures for competing retailers 12 weeks to 25th December

Reminder to catch up with any episodes you missed

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These are some of the forthcoming episodes that you will want to listen to. Topics cover systems thinking, problem solving, managing the external influences and mitigating risks.

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