Global Supply Chains at Risk

I attended a supply chain conference last week and one of the participants spoke about risk in the supply chain. Now this has become a common subject in the past few years and typically centers on the effect of natural disasters on the logistics or business interruption when there is an emergency at a critical supplier. 

But, this speaker spoke about political unrest, crime, and the use of counterfeit goods within the supply chain. He felt that counterfeit goods were rampant and were a worsening problem. This was still fresh on my mind when I heard the news about some counterfeit toothpaste on the market. It got me thinking about what else was counterfeit these days. Can you be certain that there are no counterfeit parts in your warehouse? How would you know?

His presentation was chilling. Not so much how the supply chain was going to be interrupted, but when. And, it may make us yearn for the good old days when a hurricane or blizzard where the only threats to worry about. It is time to get serious about supply chain risk and also educate your suppliers as well. You may have a plan for business interruption but what about your suppliers? The message was clear: global supply chains are at risk by those who want to cause harm on a number of levels.