In February, after visiting some of our clients in North America, I wrote How USA & Canada SME Importers Feel about China in early 2023, in which I described three categories of importers affected by the trend of decoupling from … [Read more...]
What is the ISO 37301 (Compliance Management Systems) standard?
Let's look into what the ISO 37301 compliance management systems standard is. This standard enables organizations and businesses to put in place an effective compliance management system where senior management is accountable, and … [Read more...]
Removing Probability Analysis from Risk Management?
Over the weekend, I read a book called Risk: a User's Guide. The authors, which include former general McChrystal, make an interesting point about the use of probability. First, let's look at the traditional approach to … [Read more...]
Why a Supply Chain Map is Valuable for Importers (+ a few Simple Examples)
Over the past 3 years, I have read a number of articles pushing importers to draw a supply chain map. They argue it is extremely important, to avoid getting caught by surprise again. (And most of those articles are written by software … [Read more...]
Manufacturing in China: Assess the Risk Level and Take Action
A few days ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to do a video interview with the authors of the upcoming book Enterprise China, which analyzes the business strategy of Chinese firms in general (and their tight links to the Chinese … [Read more...]
How to deal with the Chinese New Year Disruption in 2023
Did you know that Chinese New Year 2023 is coming particularly early this year in January 2023? If you have suppliers in China, you need to be aware that this holiday period is likely to lead to a disruption in supply while their … [Read more...]
3 Supply Chain Risk Reduction Strategies: Integration VS Diversification VS Inventory
As I am writing this, in mid-2022, we're living in pretty unprecedented times. The Covid pandemic is ongoing, tensions between major world powers are at a high, previously solid supply chains and business practices are crumbling, inflation … [Read more...]
Supply Chain Risk Analysis: Learn from Past Issues
I have written a number of posts over the past couple of years about supply chain risk management. This one is a short addition to the series. As I wrote before, volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (collectively called … [Read more...]
How War In Ukraine Could Negatively Affect Global & Chinese Supply Chains [Podcast]
![How War In Ukraine Could Negatively Affect Global & Chinese Supply Chains [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/HowWarInUkraineCouldNegativelyAffectGlobalChineseSupplyChainsPodcast-1140x445.jpeg)
In this episode… We discuss how wars like the one waged on Ukraine by Russia right now could affect global supply chains. In particular, could China be affected, and if so, how? Is the West likely to decouple from China in the future in a … [Read more...]
Tips For Importers To Survive CNY 2022 [Podcast]
![Tips For Importers To Survive CNY 2022 [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/TipsForImportersToSurviveCNY2022Podcast-1140x445.jpeg)
In this episode… Chinese New Year is a tricky time for importers. 2021 has seen the continuing pandemic, sea freight costs skyrocketing, and logistics systems crumbling. High material and component costs and chip shortages have added gas … [Read more...]