Supply chain news

Working with suppliers in a difficult logistics market Supply chain procurement and logistics teams are currently facing challenging times, with market prices for freight running at multiples of historic levels.   Container shortages, driver shortages, port closures due to Covid-19 restrictions, port delays due to labour shortages and an increased supplier concentration, are all contributing to […]

Cyber Risk in Supply Chain On the 14th of May 2021, the Irish health service was the victim of a ransomware attack.  The attack forced the immediate shut down of all of the services’ IT systems.  The immediacy and scale of the disruption from such an event, has made cyber risk in supply chains an […]

A move towards shorter supply chains? We have all seen the product labels – product of Argentina, packed in Thailand and sold in the US or in Europe.   From a sustainability perspective, we know that this does not make sense.  At the same time, as organisations chase lower manufacturing and conversion costs, we have seen […]

Authorised Economic Operator status back in focus An Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) is a trader in the EU that voluntarily meets a range of criteria, demonstrating that they are reliable in the context their customs related operations and supply chain security.   Working closely with relevant customs authorities, their shipments are treated as lower risk by […]

Packaging trends in eCommerce In an online world the customer experience is dictated by a series of interactions from pre-purchase, to the online store experience, through payment, fulfilment, order communications and the delivery and presentation of goods to the receiver.  The brand is reflected in all of these touchpoints.  A positive customer experience comes from […]

Pack station design for eCommerce As supply chain managers streamline the entire order flow, pack station design becomes a critical component of enabling quality, accuracy and speed.    A poor configuration is likely to be a process bottleneck that disrupts the outbound flow can lead to packing errors and ultimately late deliveries. A pack station that […]

Impact of order pick policies on warehouse efficiency Across all warehouse activities, order picking is one of the most labour intensive and costly.   Within this, industry estimates show that travel occupies 55% of the order picking time, while searching consumes up to 15%. The balance, 30%, relates largely to item extraction and other activities. Aside […]

Incoterms® 2020 Incoterms are a set of rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). They are designed to clearly communicate how tasks, costs, and risks, which are associated with the international transports of goods, are allocated between sellers and buyers. It is important to have clarity on where responsibility and risk transfers, before […]

Designing Supply Chains for Circular For generations, we have operated supply chains that extract materials from nature, in order to create products that shipped to customers.  What customers did with those products and what happened after use, was hardly a consideration for supply chain teams.  Customers just disposed of their products at end of life […]

Brexit – UK implementation of inbound checks on Products of Animal Origin (POAO) When the Brexit transition period ended on the 31st December 2020, the EU implemented full customs checks on imports from Great Britain, including requirements for health certificates and pre-notification on shipments of products of animal origin (POAO). The UK decided to take […]