Supply chain News and trends

Key Issues Facing the SCM Market to Be Discussed at Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference 2013, May 21-23, in Phoenix; August 12-13, in Melbourne; and September 23-24, in London Despite economic challenges, the worldwide supply chain management...

Far from just a compliance issue, conflict minerals reporting involves overall supply chain risk strategy.

In August 2012, public company reporting obligations increased as a result of the SEC’s final rule to implement the new conflict mineral disclosure requirements stemming from the Dodd–Frank Act. Rigorous and in many cases operationally transformative, these requirements affect all public companies. The ruling requires public companies to examine and possibly amend operations, suppliers and supply chains based on conflict minerals’ presence. But this change doesn’t stop with public companies.

A new BDO analysis of risk factors listed in the most recent 10-K filings of the largest 100 public U.S. manufacturers found that 96 percent cite fede

Despite economic challenges, the worldwide supply chain management (SCM) software market grew 7.1 percent to $8.3 billion in 2012.

  There is little doubt that 3D printing is a potentially transformational technology.

Check out this interesting infographic by NumberSleuth.org.  Many countries have privatized postal mail.  Perhaps the US will do it one day too?   DHL Deutsche Post IS the Post Office in Germany. 

The very nature of global supply chains demands that companies exchange sensitive information with multiple partners, some of them several tiers removed from the manufacturer. Their ability to protect data can be highly variable.

Bill Hardgrave of Auburn Says Yes, Need to Look Beyond Just Bar Code Replacement; Our Three-Level RFID Application Framework

 

Whether RFID in the supply chain is thriving, struggling or somewhere in-between is a matter of opinion right now.

But almost nine years after the infamous Walmart case-level RFID program was first announced, only to be later shut down, and largely incremental progress since then, should we still consider RFID a "disruptive" technology?

That's what Bill Hardgrave, current dean of the business school at Auburn University, recently said at the RFID Journal Live conference in Orlando. Hardgrave was previously at the University of Arkansas, where he headed up the RFID research center there and worked on several studies associated with Walmart's program and item-level apparel tagging.

 

SCDigest Says:

Categorizing potential RFID-based applications as falling into which scenario can help companies understand the likely impact on potential return (lowest to highest) and system software work (also lowest to highest).

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The report below on Hardgrave's presentation, provided by SCDigest partner RetailWire and its reporter (and co-founder) Al McClain, says Hardgrave believes RFID is still a disruptive technology - if used as more than a bar code replacement.