No Silver Linings As Eruption Fall-Out Continues

(Procurement Leaders)

In procurement it’s always best to expect the unexpected but, even after the cataclysmic economic conditions experienced over the past two years, only the most ardent pessimist could have predicted a volcano in Iceland bringing the world to its knees.

The wholesale closure of European air space did more than disrupt an already ailing airline industry, it disrupted supply chains to an almost unprecedented extent.

Potentially disastrous it might have been, but what the latest crisis did was to offer procurement operations the opportunity to show that the painful lessons handed out on a regular basis throughout the credit crunch have been learnt and, more crucially, acted upon.

So, as Eyjafjallajokull continues to spew out ash and the dust steadfastly refuses to settle, do the supply chain risk pledges made by some of the biggest names in the corporate world amount to anything more than hot air?

“A couple of things have happened (as a result of the eruption),” Gary Lynch, global leader of Marsh’s global supply chain risk management practice, tells Procurement Leaders. “One of the major challenges that businesses face is to define their business continuity strategies and resilience in the supply chain — and a great many are beginning to realise that the way they approach the problem isn’t good enough.” Read more here.