A new Blog on Supply Chain Security
July 23, 2012 in Uncategorized
15 August 2012
Just like an iceberg, the public’s image of the essence of Supply Chain Security, is intentional, malicious disruptions by global terrorists. The reality is that just like an iceberg which has 90% of its mass below the water surface, there are many additional possibilities for disrupting supply chains. One of these, the importing of counterfeit products, is getting increasing amlount of visbility from organizations. Counterfeit products are impacting many industries, though it is likely prodcuts of higher value or components within higher value products suffer this problem more frequently. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimated $260 million of coutnerfeit products were confiscated in 2009. It is believed this is growing. Among the most popular counterfeit items were Footwear, Consumer Electronics and Watches. How many counterfiet products were not confiscated? That estimate may run into the billions.
It is ironic that as nations watch their imports more closely, that counterfeiters are able to continue to penetrate the flow of imports. The task is how we can better use programs such as CTPAT to find counterfeits, as well as potential weapons of mass destruction or smuggling of illicit products.
3 August 2012
Is there room for a new blog on Supply Chain Security? Yes, because it continues to be a topic that calls out for clarity and consensus, neither of which is too often not clear. What does Supply Chain Security mean anyway? One of the first formal definitions was supplied by Closs and McGarrel, in 2004, in their research paper, “Enhancing Security Throughout the Supply Chain,” for the IBM Center for the Business of Government – “The application of policies, procedures, and technology to protect supply chain assets (product, facilities, equipment, information, and personnel) from theft, damage or terrorism and to prevent the introduction of unauthorized contraband, people or weapons of mass destruction.” What spurred this definition? The tragic events of 9/11, when the US was invaded by terrorists and the realization came upon some in the nation, that the US supply chain was vulnerable. Unfortunately for the nation, while 9/11 made us question our vulnerability, we had already seen serious disruptions in the 1980′s and 1990′s that impacted supply chain security. It just wasn’t cool to mention this to skeptics who called experts as “chicken littles, claiming the sky was falling in.” Read the rest of this entry →
