Relocating of supply chain management operations in high-tech industry is not limited to consumer goods mainstream players such as Dell Computer but now European companies in areas such as Semiconductor are also moving to Asia.

Specifically, Nordic Semiconductor ASA will be setting up a regional supply chain headquarters in Manila, the Philippines. This will later be expanded to include a regional RF test-engineering group to support local backend test development and subcontract partners in Asia.

According to Wireless Design and Development Asia, the company is making this move as it has recognized the need to further tighten communication links with the rest of the supply chain in Asia by creating a more local organizational structure.

The Institute for Supply Management recently published the results of a salary survey between logistics and SCM professionals. I have brought the average salary levels based on the job categories below so that you get an idea:

- Chief Purchasing/ Supply Management/Sourcing: $128,821

- Vice President, Purchasing/ Supply Management/Sourcing: $210,419

- Director, Purchasing/ Supply Management/Sourcing: $125,833

- Manager, Purchasing/ Supply Management/Sourcing: $90,088

- Experienced staff member (3 or more years of experience): $68,537

- Entry-level staff member (less than 3 years of experience): $49,682





Do you think generally the salary levels are increasing or decreasing in supply chain area?

As you know, compliance is a hot topic these days especially in the area of sourcing and PLM as these are the areas which the process of decision making on the type of material to be used happens.

The new attention motivated me to go back and highlight some of the points which Michael R. Levin mentioned in his article "Building an Ethical Supply Chain" in Supply and Demand Chain Executive.

In Levin's point of view, SEM (Supply chain Ethics Management) platforms provide three key functions from risk management perspective:

- Distributing a company's code of conduct and updates to suppliers
- Documenting supplier receipts of these requirements
- Facilitating two-way communication between a company and it suppliers on topics regarding ethics and compliance.

The important point here is the term "risk management": These elements ensure that the danger of compliance problems become minimum for the company but the more important thing is to create a situation where the problems won't happen in supplier base either. That's why some companies conduct compliance management education as they start a relationship with a new supplier. Conducting regular and unexpected audits related to compliance by companies such as IKEA has the same purpose.

I appreciate if you also share your thoughts on the cornerstones of an excellent compliance management platform in supply chain.

University of San Francisco has launched a new online master in supply chain management. You can find more info. here.

Couple of months ago I wrote a post on available masters in supply chain management. As the number of such degrees is increasing dramatically, I was thinking of writing another post on the subject and introduce new online and normal programs. In this case, you comments are welcomed!

Some while ago I read that supplying Canada's war effort in Kandahar, Afghanistan, has been hampered by delays in shipping everything from spare parts for battered vehicles to Medical devices .

In the addition to the above mentioned issue, they had lost track of the inventory in many items needed in Afghanistan. This made me think a bit about the complexity of military supply chains: In the war context, historical data can't help you determine the amount of the inventory required with high precision so you have to build a partly agile supply chain which rapidly fulfills the demand at the end of the chain.

In the case of Canadian military, they have created some degree of agility by using some chartered flights using russian airplanes. Using 3rd party service provider (here russian forces), they have kept the costs down and have gotton rid of maintenance of air freight.

Do you have more ideas for improving SCM in this area?

Two days ago I posted a video on warehousing location decisions; and I was thinking of writing a complementary piece on location decisions focusing on the things we should do and the ones that probably we shouldn't do. So here comes some of my recommendations regarding location decisions:

- If you want to design the number and locations of your warehouses and distribution centers, don't just look at the sales data or inventory numbers; try to talk to the people who are working in sales, warehousing or production in those locations. It might be the case that there is a reason behind those numbers.

- Remember that such numbers only represent the past and not the trends for the future. Look at what is happening in the broader context of industry; That certainly has an effect on the decisions.

- And at last, look at the financial situation of the company: That's an interesting point which is usually neglected. The decisions to increase number of warehouses or DCs usually need money and decisions to decrease the number usually free money. That has to be aligned with existing cash flow situation in the company or macro-policies of the firm regarding investments.