This category features blog posts about supply chain management, including shipping and logistics.

How Determining the Right Tariff Classification Can Affect Your Business

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You’ve gotten your product manufactured overseas and managed to save a few bucks too by doing it across the water. Great. But that’s only the first (admittedly large) step. The next big challenge is shipping the product back to the U.S. without losing all those saving to unexpected high import duties. Amongst the current political talk regarding trade, it is more important now than ever to pay close attention to how the import process can affect you and your goods.

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Why Does Chinese New Year Affect the Supply Chain?

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Chinese New Year (CNY) is an important time of year for many people in China. Much like the Christmas holiday in the U.S., it is a time for celebration and family, though on a larger scale. It’s the largest Chinese holiday of the year, and business calendars in the country reflect that.

If you have ever outsourced product from China or utilized a supply chain that extends overseas, you have likely at least heard of the impact the holiday can have on the manufacturing industry. But for those that have ever wondered why the impact occurs, we’d like to give you a bit of insight into Chinese New Year.
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Just-in-Time supply chain model

When JIT Meets Murphy’s Law

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In the contract manufacturing business, supply chain professionals know that an interruption in the supply chain will cause turmoil, and can even shut down the ecosystem of a sub-contractor network. This may lead to a major surge in overhead costs when re-establishing the system, and can also cause delays and lost revenue. They also know that the world is full of uncertainties, which are governed by Murphy’s Law (in short, Murphy’s Law can be explained as “what can go wrong, will go wrong”). So what does this have to do with the Just-In-Time (JIT) business model?

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How to Manage Supply Chain Risk

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In the modern age of business, technology has made the world more interconnected than ever. This interconnectedness creates many new opportunities. Companies can now source from virtually anywhere in the world, and can create more efficient international supply chains. A company with international relationships, if applied properly, can have distinct competitive advantages such as lower material cost, operational costs, more equipment, labor, and manufacturing expertise. As a result, it can dedicate more effort to their core business.

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