A reminder that Supply Risk doesn’t go away just because the economy perks up a bit…

Supplies of Eggo waffles were cut off recently due to flooding at a Kellogg factory in the Southeast US. While Kellogg is surely working feverishly to restore supply, the shortages are expected to continue until the middle of next year. Apart from the havoc this is going to wreak on my own household’s morning routine, the key message in this episode of breakfast-interruptus is that the threat to your supply chain from Supply Risk is only partly-related to the supplier bankruptcies that made so many headlines last year.

Instead, organizations need a plan for all three types of risk (Disruption, Brand and Price) across their entire portfolio. Doing so requires:

• A structured, proactive and (especially) sustained process
• Technology to support the massive amounts of data involved
• Content about suppliers, markets, and geographies, and
• Access to a pre-enabled supply base

Only with all these components can you be sure that you’ve taken all the steps necessary to defend your supply chain from the many threats of the New Normal.

Kris Colby is a Director in Ariba’s Spend Management Services group. Kris specializes in strategic sourcing and risk reduction with retail and CPG companies.