Globalization Risks Require Continuity in Strategic Supply Chain Planning

Optimal Supply Chains Require Cost/Benefit Analysis For Risk Mitigation

    MANASSAS, Va., March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- INSIGHT, Inc., top
 international provider of planning solutions that power supply chain design
 for the world's foremost companies, emphasizes the need for new approaches
 to risk management in strategic supply chain design, given the increasing
 globalization of supply chain networks. Each location and transportation
 link in a supply chain is a potential point of failure or disruption and
 recent catastrophes have reinforced the need for risk assessment as an
 integral part of supply chain strategic planning. Yet, recent studies
 (AberdeenGroup and others) indicate that firms often do not assess these
 risks. On the other hand, INSIGHT clients enhance both corporate
 profitability and supply chain resilience with these actions:
     -- Critically evaluate global sourcing options
     -- Plan strategically, implement tactically (Plan from the top down)
     -- Optimize, don't just automate
     -- Acknowledge risk and "self-insure" with resilience
     -- Commit to continuous improvement
     "What keeps INSIGHT's clients at the top of their industries is their
 recognition of - and response to - supply chain issues, such as
 globalization risk," said Jeff Karrenbauer, president of INSIGHT, Inc.
 "INSIGHT is in the fortunate position of creating strategic design and risk
 assessment tools coupled with expert consultative support that addresses
 the most complex and pressing needs of supply chain planners and executive
 management teams."
     Globalization Speeds The Pace Of Change
     It is generally acknowledged that globalization has increased the rate
 of change, in the form of procurement decisions, strategic outsourcing of
 manufacturing, alliance partnerships, channel selection, product
 introductions, mergers and acquisitions, and so on. Yet in spite of these
 trends many firms cling to the outmoded practice of revisiting supply chain
 strategy only infrequently, perhaps every five years or so. By way of
 contrast, the current best practice of leading edge firms includes a
 program of continuous improvement with strategic reviews conducted on an
 annual basis, not ad hoc, one-off studies that are all-too-often forgotten.
     Globalization is Not a Panacea
     Many firms have rushed headlong into new markets and have made major
 commitments to the global outsourcing of procurement and manufacturing,
 enticed primarily by labor rate differences and the uninformed commentary
 of securities analysts. This myopia is gradually being replaced by a more
 comprehensive analysis which includes the true supply chain impact of such
 decisions and includes costs such as transportation, in-transit inventory,
 loss and damage, port handling, duties, and taxes. Some firms are actually
 reversing earlier global sourcing decisions based on these more
 sophisticated analyses, because the promised economic benefits vanished.
 Moreover, such studies properly include a comprehensive supply chain
 vulnerability audit/risk assessment, together with an explicit development
 and quantification of risk mitigating strategies. Risks may include
 political and/or economic instability, currency fluctuations, pandemics,
 natural disasters, sole or limited sourcing options, and premeditated
 attacks by intelligent adversaries.
     About INSIGHT, Inc.
     INSIGHT provides optimization-based supply chain planning and network
 design software and consulting services developed specifically to meet the
 dynamic business challenges of globalization, disruptions, and
 mergers/acquisitions prevalent in today's business environment. Founded by
 supply chain and logistics experts in 1978 with the goal of using
 world-class technology to add intelligence to decision making, INSIGHT
 solves the supply chain management issues of the world's foremost
 companies, including Abbott Laboratories, BASF, Clorox, ExxonMobil,
 Goodyear, GE, Kellogg, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Toyota,
 and Unilever.
     SAILS, INSIGHT's award-winning flagship product, can accurately
 represent a company's current business practices, from raw materials
 sourcing to capacity planning through delivery to the end customer. The
 X-System(R), a proprietary optimization engine, powers a family of planning
 and scheduling solutions, from the design of a global supply chains to crew
 scheduling, troop deployments, inventory optimization, and transportation
 procurement. In addition, INSIGHT provides optimization components,
 partnering with third party software providers to deliver best-of-breed
 solutions. Our software and services help design optimal supply chain
 networks that minimize costs and free up capital, streamline operations,
 maximize profits, and increase customer service levels. For more
 information, please visit us on the Web at http://www.insight-mss.com.
      For more information, please contact:
      Becky Boyd,
      MediaFirst PR - Atlanta
      becky [at] mediafirst [dot] net
      (770) 642-2080
 
 

SOURCE INSIGHT, Inc.