MIT investing further in supply chain innovation
An initiative agreed upon by MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) and the government of Ningbo, China has led to the creation of the “Ningbo Supply Chain Innovation Institute China” (NSIIC). The NSIIC is the latest addition to MIT’s existing network of innovation centers in Columbia, Spain, Luxembourg and Malaysia. Yossi Sheffi, the director of MIT’s CTL, noted the importance of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port to worldwide logistics processes and international trade. The port is the largest in the world with 744 million metric tons of volume moving through each year. Both the Ningbo government and MIT are excited to have a program embedded in such an important region where supply chain education and innovation can flow into existing processes.
Master courses will commence this fall and the NSIIC will see its first graduates in the fall of 2017. The program will be based on MIT’s current Supply Chain Management program and students will be able to earn their Master of Engineering in Logistics degree.
For more information on this and other MIT programs, click here.
Supply Chain risk on the rise
A recently released report by Resilinc suggests factory fires and explosions represented the most widespread disturbance to supply chain operations in 2015. According to the company’s EventWatch report, 2015 was a very turbulent year for supply chain disruptions, which included large scale disasters such as the typhoons in Southeast and East Asia and the Port of Tianjin explosions.
Resilinc monitors a multitude of events worldwide that have the potential to impact supply chain operations. These events include hurricanes and other natural disaster incidents as well as labor strikes and personnel decisions within large companies. The company’s reporting service shows that risks are on the rise and noted a 118% increase in the number of bulletins sent out in 2015 compared to 2014. A total of 741 supply chain events were reported in 2015 compared to 339 in 2014. This rise in events is in part due to the increased breadth of incidents the company is tracking, but even standard events such as factory fires were on the rise in 2015.
To read more on this risk report, click here.
A cleaner fashion supply chain on the horizon?
The Greenpeace Detox Campaign aims to help companies cut the release of hazardous chemicals during production processes. One specific area of focus for the program is the fashion industry. Most recently, 20 fashion designers from Italy’s Prato district committed to participating in the Detox program. This represents a big win for Greenpeace and the fashion industry as a whole because the Prato fashion district exports 2.5 billion Euros worth of clothing each year. Among the 20 designers that committed were Gucci, Valentine, Armani and Burberry.
The companies participating in the Detox program are required to eliminate all hazardous materials from their supply chains by 2020. Furthermore, their suppliers are required to disclose the release of any hazardous chemicals on an independent online platform. In total, 35 brands have pledged to meet these standards by 2020. These brands make up 15% of the total global textile production. It seems as though the fashion industry is on the right path toward more sustainable supply chain operations.
Read more on the Detox program here.
Have a great weekend!
