Author: Alexandra Leonards

While car industry chiefs usually highlight labour costs and productivity as the main drivers of change, the supply chain holds the potential for some big wins
— and ones that are perhaps more immediately
realisable.

For years, retailers and their suppliers have been eulogising the need to collaborate – supported by a bewildering array of IT systems and an equally confusing assortment of acronym very little true collaboration has occurred — but finally that looks set

Toyota spent 30 years perfecting the concept of lean manufacturing. It tweaked, it dabbled, it questioned, and it refused to accept conventional wisdom. We all know the result: supply chain professionals still identify the car giant’s operation as a near-

If there’s one subject I encounter wherever I go in Europe, it’s the question of the shortage of relevant skills in the logistics industry. Of course, this shortage varies in form from country to country but the underlying problem does not bode well for E

The judging for ‘overall winner’ is not quite as straightforward as might appear. Although by definition the ‘number one’ will be one of the sectoral category winners, the judges like to nominate a Second and Third, and because of the differences in perfo

This sector typically attracts a widely disparate set of entries, and 2004 was no exception. They ranged from airline catering to hospital supplies, and from a privatised utility to a service company for the electronics industry.

Four finalists made it through in this category (a fifth, sadly, having to withdraw for internal reasons). As occurred surprisingly often this year, the entrants divided neatly into two groups, with Dentsply International and IDIS both serving specialised