Normally supply chain initiatives are taken by one company and there are less examples of the concepts and models such as SCOR reference model adopted by several firms at once. However, I came across another new one which is becoming mainstream among Electric companes and their suppliers in the U.S. and is called "Supply Chain Scorecard".

It's a way to create a standard over the supply chain perormance management, help electric suppliers to compare themsleves and define new improvement initiatives. The video link provided below, highlights some of the benefits associated with that:

I am sure you have heard about the rumors related to the merger of Fiat with two American auto-makes Chrysler and GM (Opel part). Besides economy of scale and other motivations, I believe Opel option is a better candidate from supply chain point of view. The Opel merger in essence woul be a supply chain merger: There is low degree of overlap between the two as Opel has a strong distribution network in Northern Europe while Fiat is strong in southern and central europe.

After the merger starts and when it's the time to combine and consolidate two supply chains, it's easier to realize the efficiencies in two European companies: The distances are lower, cultural differences are less and overall regulation in EU is roughly the same.

On the other hand, even though Chrysler offers a good platform and distribution network in U.S., it's culturally very different from Fiat; the distance would also add to the problem and there is relatively lower possibility of combining product platform themsleves as the two companies produce two different types of cars.

Analysts still don't know if Fiat is only going for Chrysler of both companies and if the company can handle both mergers, but in any case it's less probable that Fiat would go for an "Opel only" option.

CHaINA web magazine has recently done a Q&A with Jean Pierre Chesse, the founder and CEO of Sinodis, a food importer and cold chain lo-gistics service provider in China. I went through the piece and even though the interview was more around cold chain in China, there were some interesting info. on the key SCM issues in China as well:

As an example, Jean Pierre briefly talke about the impact of current crisis on China; apparently the companies which are focusing on import or national service are still doing good and only exporters are impacted. He also mentioned that in order to be successful in Chinese market, shaping a national distribution chain matters a lot. 3rd party service providers in the country have now got enough maturity to offer logistics capabilities at the national level.

Sinodis, for example, depending on the product and location, in most places, even Kunming, we are able to deliv-er on every Friday to their store. The order might be placed on Monday the week before, on Friday it leaves the country of origin, arriving in China on Monday, clearing customs on Tuesday and arriving in Kunming by Friday. To be able to do this, you need to carry a large range of quality imported products that arrived the same day in China from various countries. Such unique multi-temperature products require the supply chain to offer different capabilities depending on product's nature.

Overall, I would still see a great opportunity area in China regarding SCM; it's a bit far otherwise it would have been a perfect career location;)

IMD Professor Corey Billington did an interview this month with Edwin van der Meerendonk, Vice President of European Supply Chain for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on high thoughts about bullwhip effect, uncertainty, open innovation, etc.

The interview also covers an introduction to the supply chain program at IMD and its structure which might be interesting for you. Enjoy!

In a short piece from Kenji Hall written in BusinessWeek, he talks about the recent plans of Sony, giant Japanese electronics company, to cut supply chain costs.

According to Kenji, the tech giant has about 2,500 suppliers, but will reduce that number to 1,200 by March 2011. This effort in to achieve company's objective of part and material cost reduction by 20%.

The motivation for this movements are clear: This year, the electronics unit is expected to post a second consecutive year of losses. The financial crisis has eviscerated global demand for consumer electronics and a strong yen has eroded profits earned overseas. Sony didn't say how the new measures would affect earnings. But if the cuts are deep enough, Sony may be able to restore its electronics business to profitability faster than previously expected—freeing up cash for Stringer to spend on innovative new products.

We should be waiting to see if the initiatives of Japanese companies like Nissan, Toyota and Sony to cut supply chain cost will save their companies or not.

Aqua MCG has announced the release of a new report "Supply Chain Cost Reduction in India" to their offering; this is a comprehensive report for companies facing the complex process of Sales & Operation Planning, and Cost Management.

If you are interested in India's supply chain issues, you can download the report by going here and I would say generally it's a rather useful document as it lays out the supply chain cost break down of the companies in India and provides information on the performance levels such as innovation, cost, service, etc.

VHA Inc., a national network of not-for-profit hospitals based in Irving, Texas, has recognized eight health care organizations for supply chain management excellence and named them as winners of the 2009 VHA Leadership Award for Supply Chain Management Excellence.

According to Earth Times, VHA serves more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and more than 24,000 non-acute health care organizations nationwide. The VHA 2009 Leadership Award for Supply Chain Management is given to member organizations that demonstrate high levels of performance in one of three areas:

- Sourcing and resource management
- Distribution, logistics and inventory management
- Supply chain innovation and creativity

The 2009 winners are:

1- Cape Cod Healthcare, Cape Cod, Mass.
2- Edward Hospital, Naperville, Ill.
3- Floyd Medical Center, Rome, Ga.
4- Freeman Health System, Joplin, Mo.
5- Novant Health, Charlotte, N.C.
6- Providence Health and Services, Seattle, Wash.
7- TMC Healthcare, Tucson, Ariz.
8- University Community Hospital, Tampa, Fla.

"Improving supply chain performance positively impacts a hospital's bottom line, positioning the organization to have more resources to provide better care," said Scott Downing, executive vice president at VHA. "By prioritizing supply chain efficiency, these health care organizations are conserving resources, and since we all pay into the health care system in some way, we want health care providers to be both effective and efficient. These award winners are setting the right example for other hospitals."

Without a doubt, Home Depot is one of the most well known retailers in the United States. Jason Mayor has done a great job of preparing a nice video addressing different initiatives which Home Depot has taken in order to improve management of its complex supply chain. The clip starts with a short history of the company from 1978 till now highlighting the importance of the SM for the firm.




One of the very interesting things in this clip about Home Depot was the concept of "Supply Chain University". These are a series of courses and gatherings with the main goal of communication between Home Depot and its suppliers. They can harmonize their terminology, share knowledge and come up with solutions for their mutual problems.

Hope you enjoy this video as well.

I have written several posts so far on the subject of suply chain education and the efforts some of the American schools and other International institutions are making to introduce more specialized programs. Supply Chain Management Review Magazine has taken the lead in this area and launched a survey recently to idetify what are the best schools to pursue SCM education.

This 15 minutes survey which has been conducted in cooperation with Brigham Young University tries to evaluate professional associations, universities, and publications. To provide a small incentive for sharing insight, they will enter you in a drawing for one of three iPod nanos. If you want to participate, please click on this link.

I came across this video from Ariba event where Joseph Gigliotti, Manager of Supply Chain System and Strategy at jetBlue, shares his thoughts on the top 3 supply risks in his industry. In Jeseph's point of view, the top risks include:

1) Price of fuel which is fluctuating (was going down but seems to increase again),
2) Inflation (the effect which might have on the contracts)
3) And at last crisis which has had some impact on the number of tickets bought and the type of them.



He also talks a little bit about how effective management of procurement is helping to reduce those risks and opportunities he sees in this buyer's market.