"He brought suppliers into the Boeing family so all members of an airplane team could talk to them. His leadership has been critical."

"He has taken supply chain management to a whole new level. He is a role model for new ways to work with suppliers, and other companies will copy what he has done."

That first quote is from Carolyn Corvi, vice president and general manager of airplane programs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. She is talking about Steven Schaffer, this magazine's Supply Chain Manager of the Year. He is Boeing's vice president and general manager of global partners and the person responsible for management of the supplier partners helping Boeing develop the 787 Dreamliner.

The second quote is from David Hess, president of one of those partner companies, Hamilton Sundstrand.

Those quotes were among many from a range of players in the 787 program praising Schaffer for his supply chain management leadership. Perhaps the best testimonial of his leadership skills, though, is his action in the face of delivery problems with fasteners. He didn't resort to finger pointing or the blame game. He instead stressed his trust of his suppliers and jiggered schedules as well as took other actions to help them help Boeing.

There is one other quote that sums up Schaffer's work ethos: "He doesn't understand why people would build walls or barriers," said Corvi. And that's why he gets such value from Boeing's supplier partners. Congratulations to Steven Schaffer—and to Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Reports of product recalls have, among other things, reminded supply chain professionals of the need to have processes in place to prevent disasters like unsafe or poor-quality products—and to have plans for handling other unexpected business disruptions. Earlier this year, procurement and other management executives from companies such as IBM, Bechtel, Eaton, Hasbro, ING and the Canadian Pacific Railway participated in a Thought Leadership Roundtable at the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business to share ideas on the impact of business disruptions and how to plan for and respond to them. Among their discussion points:

• It's the planning, not the plan that matters most.
• Flexibility is the best strategy for preparedness.

There was disagreement on whether companies get financially rewarded for having risk management strategies, but everyone agreed that markets punish companies that are unprepared and suffer a disruption. That should be enough to move all supply-chain managers to the drawing board so they can begin planning for the unexpected.

There is an interesting debate going on about the direction of copper prices. Buyers responding to our latest survey say they are paying $3.40 per pound for Midwest copper cathode. Merrill Lynch analysts say the spot price could drop to $3.15 by the end of the year. Analysts at Global Insight say it could go even lower next year.

But wait: The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Economic Resources says prices will average $3.18 next year as world copper consumption grows.

The housing market and China are among factors in all calculations. Housing construction consumes 40% of copper here, and housing is down. China's buying binge is slowing, but demand there is still strong.

Best advice for now: Stay tuned. And enjoy low prices when you find them.

pteague@reedbusiness.com