DC Velocity - January 2012

inbound

Water worries

Add water to the list of things most logistics and supply chain managers probably don’t worry about but should.

Two-thirds ( 66 percent) of the 190 organizations that participated in a study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) said exposure to water-related risk could have an impact on their supply chains in the next five years. One-third of the respondents said their companies had already suffered water-related business impacts. Water-related business impacts include disruptions to operations from severe weather events like floods or water shortages.

The CDP noted that in 2011, parts of China, East Africa, the Middle East, and the United States experienced the worst droughts in decades, causing crop failures, production cutbacks, and other difficulties.

Quite the opposite has been true in parts of the Pacific Rim. Thailand experienced flooding during the 2011 monsoon season, while Queensland, Australia, earlier this year had its prolonged drought alleviated by once-in-100-years floods, leading to severe supply chain disruptions throughout the region.

The study’s findings are detailed in the 2011 CDP Water Disclosure Global Report. To download a copy, go to www.cdpro-ject.net/water. ;

Job hunting? We have good news

The overall economic picture may still be uncertain, but the outlook for those seeking jobs in logistics and supply chain management appears to be pretty bright.

One indicator comes from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). Patricia O’Rourke, director of CSCMP’s Career Center, reports that 2011 started out with a flurry of hiring activity, and job postings for all types of logistics and supply chain positions continued strong right through the end of December. CSCMP also reports that more companies are purchasing long-term recruitment packages from the Career Center, suggesting that hiring activity will remain robust in 2012.

More good news: Just under half ( 49 percent) of the 430 respondents to eyefortransport’s 2011–2012 Global Chief Supply Chain Officer Strategy Survey said their companies currently are recruiting supply chain professionals. That’s a notable increase over 2010, when only 35 percent of respondents reported that their companies were hiring. ;

Stand up and be
measured!

When the deadliest hurricane ever to hit the United States plowed through Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 8, 1900, most of Galveston’s citizens didn’t know it was coming. The city was destroyed and many lives were lost. But there had been some early warning signs—it’s just that few recognized the high winds and choppy seas in the far-off Atlantic Ocean as indications of approaching trouble.

There’s a lesson there for distribution centers (DCs) and warehouses, where it’s easy to miss the warning signs of an approaching “storm.” To avoid getting caught unawares, experts advise DC managers to keep a close eye on their operations’ performance, not only tracking changes over time but also periodically checking to see how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Where do you get the benchmark data? One source is the annual DC and warehousing metrics study sponsored by the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) and DC VELOCITY in conjunction with Georgia Southern University and the consulting firm Supply Chain Visions. Now in its ninth year, the annual study looks at what metrics DC professionals use to evaluate their operations as well as trends in overall performance against those metrics. As part of the analysis, the results from hundreds of DCs and warehouses are aggregated to develop performance benchmarks.

In mid-January, DC VELOCI T Y and WERC will send an e-mail to WERC members and readers of the magazine inviting them to fill out the survey questionnaire. Participants will receive a copy of the survey results; any company that submits results for more than five facilities in its network can also obtain an analysis of how those facilities are performing against each other and the industry as a whole.

So watch your e-mail for an invitation to participate in the study. For more info on the facility reports or to request a sample analysis, contact Joseph Tillman at joseph_tillman@scvisions.com. ;