Have your say in international logistics survey
The global supply chain survey being undertaken by Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) can be completed electronically in 12 minutes and affords South African supply chain and operations professionals the opportunity to participate in global research that is extremely significant for SAPICS and for the local supply chain community. It ends at the end of February 2010.
"It presents an invaluable opportunity to learn from the rest of the world and for them to learn from South Africa. A global survey like this, particularly one run by MIT, enables us to give something meaningful back to the profession. It's a chance for our opinions to be expressed; for our voices to be heard on a global level," says Cobus Rossouw director of SAPICS (The Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa).
Interim findings
The survey has so far produced the following findings:
- Respondents rate the most important risk to their supply chains as failure of suppliers, including raw material suppliers and logistics (transport and carrier) service providers
- Risks associated with deteriorating market conditions and product failure, as well as software failure
- Most important disruption to prepare for relates to interruptions to internal operations, including power failures. This worry is echoed in renewed concerns about South Africa's energy shortage, which has recently been cited by analysts as a major risk factor for investors
- External supply chain disruptions, such as the loss of quality materials (from suppliers) or the loss of demand (by customers)
- Loss of communication with vendors, customers or other sites
MIT's Centre for Transportation and Logistics is conducting the survey, which is sponsored by Imperial Logistics, in six different regions of the world. Its goal is to understand if regional and cultural differences affect how people think about and manage supply chain risks.
