Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008 - (Page 8)

Be Prepared to Manage Those Product Recalls O ne thing the supply chain world has learned in the last couple of that its supplier had subcontracted work out to a firm with less-thanrigorous oversight. So, be prepared for the worst. But what if the problem, however serious, is relegated to a small percentage of flawed product. Recalling everything is extremely costly and not necessary. Do you have the timestamping and coding processes in place that would allow you to specify what is tainted? Even if you do, are they overly broad? If you could change them daily or even hourly, you could bring a precision to product recall that could save you a bundle. It’s evident that backward visibility is crucial, but forward views are just as important once a problem area has been found: Now, you have to find the flawed product. And event management technology is valuable here. With it, you may be able to notify retailers to immediately deactivate barcodes on faulty items. No longer, would you have to worry about getting product back from the public. Now it’s more a matter of retrieval and, in many cases, product destruction. These and many other procedures are discussed extensively in this month’s issue. Yes, the best recall is no recall, but when that’s not possible, let’s make it as painless as possible. years is, happiness is never having to say hello again. In other words, once you’ve distributed a product, you don’t want to see anything coming back home unless it’s green. Unhappily, that ‘s not the tale that toy manufacturers, food companies and many others have to tell. Products either poorly designed or haphazardly made have resulted in expensive recalls and troubling blows to reputation. Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best is no insurance. The best strategy for preventing faulty products from reaching the market is to have rigorous quality assurance programs from inception. And inspections need to be ongoing. But the mantra from Total Quality Management days still holds: you can’t inspect quality in, you have to build it in. You must begin with R&D and design and work from there. Each time a company makes changes to a product line or in its supplier base, it needs to identify where the risks of a recall might be and take preventive action up front. In fact, it was the supplier network that tripped up Mattel with toys with lead-based paint. Mattel had worked with a trusted supplier for 15 years, but it didn’t know until it was too late last summer Russell W. Goodman rgoodman@glscs.com 8 MAY 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008 Contents Editorial GL and SCS Exclusive Fast Forward Up Front Cover Story: 'Be Prepared Is Motto that All Companies Should Follow When It Comes to Recalls Here and There 1+1=One Opinion Can't Happen Here Industry Voices

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.