After The Ash Settles

Have we over-outsourced our supply chains?  Michael L. Hetzel, a vice president at ProQC International, says that we in the US have, in a paper distributed to American Society for Quality (ASQ) members.  I believe that we have done so in Europe, as well.

Hetzel maintains that extended and distant supply chain structures have isolated and siloed procurement, quality, design, and logistics functions, with each focused on its own objectives and measurements - to the detriment of the end-to-end supply chain.

The stunning realization in all this is that loosely-connected functions in the supply chain are more likely to fall apart under stress than a strong system of better-integrated links would be.  There may be no stronger argument than this for the value of  - the necessity for - carefully structured business relationships among supply chain partners.

Perhaps near-shoring, in-shoring, right-shoring and the like might mitigate the consequences somewhat.  But, the risk of supply chain catastrophe in a world of bankruptcies, sudden and sometimes unforseeable communications and logistics breakdowns, economic turmoil, civil unrest, government actions, and Icelandic volcanic eruptions is simply too great to do otherwise.