Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#115 - Car makers 'fess up to supply chain shocks galore

18 Feb 2010

Procurement professionals everywhere will be updating their Powerpoint presentations this week:

The slide that illustrates the impact of supply chain shocks usually features those three well known case studies;

• Compromised baby powder in China
• Lead paint on Mattel toys made in China
• Nike’s alledged use of child labour in Vietnam

Of course there are many other examples – these are just the most oft-quoted and perhaps highest profile cases.

But the news that Honda is recalling 437,700 cars due to airbag problems immediately follows the Toyota recalling millions of cars for sticky accelerator pedals or dodgy brakes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8507450.stm

And, surprisingly, it is not a low-cost manufacturing country guilty of shoddy efforts, but the  legendary high quality/higher-cost  Japanese market – formally Australia’s largest trading partner; until China took over.

How times have changed.

The Buyer – posted 18 February 2010 

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.