June 10, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Here's a neat YouTube video I spotted recently. It gives a graphical representation of the global supply chain, using a small shoe store as an example. For those who learn visually, it's a good tool for getting the concept of the supply chain across. Enjoy!

April 7, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

As if the peanut scare wasn't bad enough, now there's a new salmonella-related problem. According to this warning released just last week by the FDA, now there's a problem with the nation's pistachio crop, prompting yet another nut-related recall.

This time the FDA says the culprit is Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif. Fortunately, as in the peanut scare, this problem doesn't appear to have anything to do with bagged pistachios, but the warning notes that the potentially contaminated nuts in this case are used "as ingredients in a variety of foods," so you can bet this will lead to more recalls of other products. The FDA is keeping a list of potential affected products which you can see by clicking here.

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March 9, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

If you think you're keeping good tabs on what goes on in your supply chain, especially if you are a food company, you'd better have a look at this article from the New York Times about how food inspectors routinely drop the ball when testing for microbes and other contaminants in the U.S. food manufacturing and distribution industry.

Not surprisingly, the now-infamous peanut scare that started at a Georgia-based Peanut Corporation of America plant is at the top of the article, but the article also mentions the perhaps less-well-known case of the Westland/Hallmark Beef Company in California which had to recall nearly 150 million pounds of beef a little over a year ago after federal inspectors discovered the company used what the article called "sickly" c...Read More

January 22, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

It looks like the case of melamine contamination is progressing in China. According to this piece from CNN, three people are going to be put to death for willfully contaminating or allowing others to contaminate watered-down milk with melamine, a chemical used in manufacturing of plastics, in order to mask a vitamin deficiency in the diluted milk to government screeners. The chemical has killed six babies in China and made over 300,000 more sick. A BBC broadcast this morning blamed rapid expansion of the Chinese economy with little to no real government regulation to keep up with it, something Premier Wen Jiabao, in a rare public apology, vowed to fix.

On a related front, the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seems to be nailing down the source of this country's...Read More

January 9, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Ok, it's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd start the new year with an interesting video I spotted recently. Its purpose is to plug a supply chain management degree program from Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, but there's a pretty detailed description, in basic language, of what supply chain management is and why it's important.

Overall, the video's pretty good, although if the presenter spoke to me like that in person I'd be inclined to smack him. Still, it's worth viewing for anyone new to the field who wants to understand it better.
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