Supply chain research report due for release

SENIOR EXECUTIVES in many of SA’s biggest companies are struggling to come to terms with the global supply chain revolution. In particular, they are struggling to find the necessary high-level supply chain skills, and to turn around the asset-heavy, expensive and inefficient SA logistics infrastructure to the benefit of their industries and companies. That’s the finding of the latest supplychainforesight research support to be launched in Johannesburg on March 15, Durban on March 16, and Cape Town on the 17th. Many SA businesses have cited the imbalances in the country’s supply chain and logistics infrastructure as the cause of their increasing lack of competitiveness. The findings suggest that a lack of strategic focus on making SA supply chains more globally competitive represents the biggest threat to SA realising its economic potential as the supply chain portal to Africa. Supplychainforesight found that SA executives were searching for ways to collaborate in order to cut costs out of their supply chains and meet improved service level criteria. Unfortunately, immediate pressure is being placed on individual activities like transportation or warehousing in order to achieve this. Such a tactical approach ultimately leads to the introduction of more inventory into supply chains as a hedge against functional bottlenecks and delays, and thus more costs and decreased service levels. This contrasts with current thinking elsewhere in the world, which takes advantage of information technology in order to manage, in an integrated and collaborative fashion, entire global supply networks.