by Dave Frentzel | Apr 8, 2024 | Briefs, Consumer & Retail, Operations, Strategic Sourcing, Strategy, Supply Chain Management
You’ve probably seen the news – in 2023, Mexico became the top source of US imports on a dollar basis, beating out China for the first time since 2002 (Figure 1). Since the mid 2010’s, the gap between imports from China and those from Mexico and Canada has...
by David Bovet | May 6, 2020 | Briefs, Operations, Strategy, Supply Chain Management
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of many global supply chains. Supply plummeted first from shutdown factories in China, then demand collapsed worldwide as countries adopted stay-at-home orders. These unprecedented events surfaced a level of...
by David Bovet | Apr 28, 2020 | Briefs, Capabilities, Consumer & Retail, Strategy, Supply Chain Management
Stay-at-home orders in the time of coronavirus have dramatically altered the path food takes from farm to plate. Grocery stores have suffered shortages while farmers plow crops under due to lack of demand from the food service channel. What is happening to our food...
by Dave Frentzel | Apr 2, 2020 | Briefs, Operations, Strategy
Today’s scope and depth of disruption to companies – especially small- and mid-sized firms – is virtually unprecedented. In this time of the pandemic, most companies will face severe challenges. Operating budgets will come under pressure, particularly when it becomes...
by Dave Frentzel | Mar 23, 2020 | Briefs, Operations, Strategy
As I write this, we are beginning week two of Massachusetts’ version of the COVID-19 “shelter in place” emergency order. For our clients in non-life sustaining businesses, this Brief condenses what we have been advising, particularly for those running small-to-medium...
by Dave Frentzel | Sep 17, 2018 | Briefs, Strategy, Supply Chain Management, Transportation & Logistics
Third-party logistics (3PL) providers and their customers have yet another huge wave of industry innovation and growth to ride. The first wave in the modern era of 3PLs in the US began in the 1980s with trucking deregulation, business process outsourcing, and the...