Supply Chain Risk Management: A Delicate Balancing Act

With the constantly shifting geographical sourcing of supply and the movements towards outsourced/contracted manufacturing, supply shortages, outages and quality control are increasing costs in many cases, and decreasing predictability and reliability. Direct and indirect suppliers impose additional risks. To the global manufacturer, all of these factors are compounded by increased product complexity, distributed information, and even environmental factors. Supply Chain Risk Management offers improved focus on risk and therefore, more effective risk mitigation. Other benefits include the elimination of potential and unexpected costs, reduced disruptions and time to recovery. Monitoring and managing supply chain events, with an eye on potential, predictable, and even uncertain risk elements, generally evidences an improvement in overall supply chain performance.