World Economic Forum report provides new insights, says leading specialist

March 26, 2012 - PRLog -- “The World Economic Forum report confirms our findings from working with those affected at the time,” said Evolution Time Critical managing director Brad Brennan.  “It makes valuable suggestions for improving supply chain robustness in vulnerable regions.  The main lesson that supply chain managers have to learn from 2011 and the Japanese disaster in particular is that they need deeper and much more rigorous contingency plans.  After a difficult year, strengthening supply chain is a top priority for senior management.”

The World Economic Forum also surveyed 55 individuals from a variety of backgrounds including logistics, automotive, aviation and government.  Over 90% of the CEOs questioned agreed that the global supply chain has become a higher priority.  CEOs also recognised the increased interdependencies within the Automotive, Aviation and Logistics industries.

“Our internal data complements the findings from the World Economic Forum; we have seen a significant increase in the number of non-automotive clients using our contingency planning services in the past year,” said Brennan.  “For a long time, the automotive industry has led the way with supply chain resilience and now other industries are adopting these best practices.”    

The 26 page report highlights five key recommendations for business and government:

1) To  create a universal understanding of risk and risk management

2) To explicitly assess supply chain and transport risks as part of procurement, management and governance processes

3) To develop trusted networks of suppliers, customers, competitors and governments focused on risk management

4) To improve network risk visibility through two-way information sharing and collaborative development of standardised risk assessment and quantification tools

5) To improve pre- and post-event communication on systemic disruptions.
   
The Report also highlighted the recent trends in supply chains and assessed their risk impact.  The risk of ‘Specialisation’ was highlighted, if production of a single component is concentrated in a single geographical area, major disruption will occur as a result of local events.  The report also highlighted the growth of lean processes, including single sourcing and reduction in buffer stock, warning that although efficiency is improved initially, it does require a strong contingency plan as fewer alternatives are available in case of disruption.

The past twelve months has seen numerous significant disruptions, including natural disasters, violent political unrest and economic disruptions.  Despite increased analysis of the supply chain, it would be impossible for a single business or government to guard against these issues, instead the WEF  suggests that ‘the goal is not to predict what or when  but instead be prepared and able to respond in an informed and planned manner to minimise the impact of a disruption.’ Manufacturers in the automotive and other industries appear to be taking this on board, with Evolution Time Critical seeing an increasing number of clients requesting pre-emptive disruption contingency planning.

“Manufacturers are now taking a managerial interest in the entire supply chain and adjusting their strategies to spread that risk, previously a Tier Three or even a Tier Two may be invisible to the manufacturer,” said Brennan.  “We are increasingly working deeper in the supply chain and at an earlier stage.  As we have seen in the past twelve months, we cannot prevent supply chain disruption, it’s a fact of life, but we can offer comprehensive contingency planning to ensure that the impact of any disruption, be it reputational or financial, is minimised.”

www.evolution-timecritical.com

About Evolution Time Critical
Evolution Time Critical is the world’s leading specialist in emergency logistics for the automotive industry. Analysts are available 24 hours a day, ready to develop and implement solutions in any part of the world within a 15-minute response window, calling on a vast range of techniques, skills and contacts to ensure that goods reach their destination on time.

The skills of Evolution’s team are also available for consulting projects, helping clients to achieve additional savings in their supply chains while also strengthening and improving manufacturing efficiency. Increasingly, Evolution has found that emergency logistics is playing an integral role in lean strategies as the automotive industry returns to higher production volumes, allowing further inventory reductions while maintaining the reliability of deliveries to manufacturing plants.

The expertise and techniques developed by Evolution for the automotive sector are also benefitting the aerospace and marine industries, where the company helps clients to release capital trapped in spare parts by facilitating urgent parts deliveries, and return aircraft and ships to service more quickly.

Press Contact
Christopher Foster at Market Engineering
+44 (0)1295 277 050
christopher.foster@m-eng.com   

Sales and Marketing Contact
Brad Brennan at Evolution Time Critical
+ 44 (0)1332 814 914         
bbrennan@evolution-timecritical.com

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