In recent years Low Cost Country Sourcing (LCCS) has been a huge initiative in many sourcing organizations resulting in relationships with suppliers in regions like China. Riding on this wave is the call for companies to have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the consumers who purchase their products. This is not just [...]

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On December 30th, the EPA announced plans to place greater restrictions on 4 types of chemicals; phthalates, short-chain chlorinated paraffins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and perfluorinated chemicals. To quote the EPA’s press release:
EPA intends to establish a “Chemicals of Concern” list and is beginning a process that may lead to regulations requiring significant risk [...]

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Innovation seems to be pouring out of the Tata Group at a very rapid clip. The Tata Nano, which relied heavily on the company’s suppliers for their cost savings and creativity, raised the proverbial innovation bar by dramatically lowering the cost of an automobile thus making them available to a larger portion of the Indian [...]

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In the context of last week’s surprisingly positive job numbers (so surprising in fact that President Obama had to do a last minute rewrite to his speech Friday), two news stories have shared additional good news for US manufacturing. They’re largely anecdotal evidence, but perhaps they show a return of manufacturing jobs to the US [...]

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While Supply Risk has been a hot topic in procurement and supply chain circles for some time, it’s been difficult to find broad-based empirical information about what organizations are doing on this front. The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics is looking to do something about that. They are currently conducting a “Global [...]

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