Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

sloanreview.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 322 posts

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#111

Post by nickpinkston »

We in the manufacturing tech space have been thinking a lot about reconfigurability, beyond just 3D printing locally, but to how do you tool up (make molds, program machines, etc.) automatically akin to a deploy script, Docker container, etc.

These analogies are no where in the current paradigm, but if we have them, we could quickly allocate work across the manufacturing space to get stuff made far quicker. The material part of tool up (cutting molds, etc.) only takes days if you parallelize it, whereas the human aspect of dialing in the machines, etc. is where all the time goes.

Here's my proposal for what a more software-like engineering / manufacturing system would look like:

https://www.slideshare.net/nickpinkston/the-future-of-tools-...

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#112

Post by droopyEyelids »

alexose wrote: post #64
tvanantwerp wrote: post #36

I feel like the problem is less that supply chains are globalized, and more that they aren't redundant. By that I mean, there's too much reliance on China as the primary producer/exporter for countless industries and products. Having just one nation account for such a large share of manufacturing introduces single points of failure. It would be wise to have multiple sources for any given good, especially if it's esse…

In my experience, it's not that companies are choosing any one strategy over another. It's more that companies have no idea what their supply chain actually looks like. Only that the widgets show up at their loading dock every week, and that the shipments have always been reliable in the past, so that there's no reason to look any further. There are often strong disincentives, as well. Nike, for example, got themselv…

My family is in manufacturing and everyone is acutely aware of their supply chain, and there are whole departments in the companies dedicated to sourcing and testing it all.

Supply chain management is like 50%+ of all manufacturing industry. I think you must be responding to the idea of like a hospital not knowing where their masks come from- and I don't think thats the focus of the article.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#113

Post by secabeen »

bkeyes wrote: post #44
jimbob45 wrote: post #16

Counterpoint: YKK (look at your zipper) relies on absolutely no one else for its supply chain [0]. This could easily be seen as a waste by those who would say YKK should just source its metal from the foundry down the street. It's easy to do a quick thought experiment in your head to think about how feasible it might be for every company to vertically integrate the way YKK has. On the other hand, YKK can't get jerked…

Never heard of them. Their company setup is pretty impressive. However to say 'relies on absolutely no one else for its supply chain' is an extreme exaggeration and frankly impossible. They don't make the computers, fiber optics, switches, exchanges, or software that their web site requires to run. They don't own the fleet of trucks, boats, and planes required to get their product to their customers - or their raw ma…

Interesting. YKK is the highest-quality large manufacturer of zippers in the world. There is a correlation between the quality of a garment or zippered good and the presence of a YKK zipper.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#114

Post by unethical_ban »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #36

I feel like the problem is less that supply chains are globalized, and more that they aren't redundant. By that I mean, there's too much reliance on China as the primary producer/exporter for countless industries and products. Having just one nation account for such a large share of manufacturing introduces single points of failure. It would be wise to have multiple sources for any given good, especially if it's esse…

I said this last night to a friend: The United States (and all nations really) need to look at supply chains the way we look at AWS regions. You don't build anything in just one region when it's in production - you always have redundancy, in this case, geographical and political redundancy if possible.

We have strategic reserves of petroleum, foodstocks, and other necessities. It is time to think about the same with medicines, medical supplies, and common household goods.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#115

Post by TeMPOraL »

jobu wrote: post #110
jonrimmer wrote: post #19

The price advantages of globalised supply chains vs. the relative rarity of an event like this means that, during normal periods, firms using them will enjoy a significant advantage over those doing the "right" thing and market forces will weed out the latter. So I don't expect management to be taking a lead on this.

Yeah, not only is this a once in 100years event, it's also staggered in such a way that the Chinese manufacturing will likely be caught up by the time the European and North American economies are coming back to life.

> it's also staggered in such a way that the Chinese manufacturing will likely be caught up by the time the European and North American economies are coming back to life.

It's more difficult than that. Links in the supply chain aren't independent. Supply and demand must balance. Chinese manufacturing is spinning back up just as European and US demand is dropping. This will cause further damage to the companies on the supply side. And as Europe and US spin their economies back up, China may not be able to meet the growing demand in full. It'll take a while before this reaches something resembling an equilibrium.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#116

Post by transpute »

jcims wrote: post #88
alexose wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, it's not that companies are choosing any one strategy over another. It's more that companies have no idea what their supply chain actually looks like. Only that the widgets show up at their loading dock every week, and that the shipments have always been reliable in the past, so that there's no reason to look any further. There are often strong disincentives, as well. Nike, for example, got themselv…

This is it 100%. I work at a major financial institution and we invest ridiculous amounts of money, effort and, frankly, delay, in understanding our supply chain, its security posture and risk management model. It's a unbelievably gargantuan effort and if it weren't for the scary shit that we find all the time one could easily argue it's a waste.

> It's a unbelievably gargantuan effort

Also applies to software supply chains:

https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/sherman/

> Today’s software is largely assembled rather than written, and most of the assembly comes from open source components. The creation of components and their inclusion into applications creates a “supply chain” just like in conventional manufacturing. While physical supply chains have well established chains-of-custody to establish properties like refrigeration maintenance, authenticity or spoilage avoidance, the software supply chain is very much a wild, wild west, filled with vulnerabilities that can be (and are) inadvertently inserted into applications. As supply chain risk and mitigations are being explored by government and academia, a larger attack surface is being uncovered that needs to be addressed.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#117

Post by jcims »

victor9000 wrote: post #106
jcims wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is it 100%. I work at a major financial institution and we invest ridiculous amounts of money, effort and, frankly, delay, in understanding our supply chain, its security posture and risk management model. It's a unbelievably gargantuan effort and if it weren't for the scary shit that we find all the time one could easily argue it's a waste.

What problems have you encountered that others should avoid?

They run the gamut. Lack of a viable risk management program, lack of resiliency planning and testing, poor operational and change management controls, poor visibility and response planning for security events, poor SDLC security, etc. etc. The requirements vary based on our exposure.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#118

Post by TeMPOraL »

unethical_ban wrote: post #114
tvanantwerp wrote: post #36

I feel like the problem is less that supply chains are globalized, and more that they aren't redundant. By that I mean, there's too much reliance on China as the primary producer/exporter for countless industries and products. Having just one nation account for such a large share of manufacturing introduces single points of failure. It would be wise to have multiple sources for any given good, especially if it's esse…

I said this last night to a friend: The United States (and all nations really) need to look at supply chains the way we look at AWS regions. You don't build anything in just one region when it's in production - you always have redundancy, in this case, geographical and political redundancy if possible. We have strategic reserves of petroleum, foodstocks, and other necessities. It is time to think about the same with…

It's not stupidity that caused supply chain fragility. People involved understand the benefits of redundancy. It's the market that doesn't. It's fundamentally unable to protect itself against black swan events, because they're (by definition) outside of its optimization horizon. Redundancies and buffers that could protect us from once-in-couple-decades events are considered as "fat", and are cut off by competitive pressure.

The conclusion from this is that, unless there is regulation directly addressing this, nothing will change, because the market forces are what they are.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#119

Post by tspike »

tyrust wrote: post #8

My feeling as a layman is that the scale of globalization an industry uses will emerge naturally as a result of the trade-off between the costs and benefits. So far, the benefits have been worth it, otherwise companies wouldn't do it. As the article notes, there are a number of examples where safeguards are already in place, for in those cases it's worth being cautious. The more serious, but harder to deal with, issu…

The short-term benefits have been worth it. Long-term is much more questionable.

Re: Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?

#120

Post by kls »

polskibus wrote: post #102
tvanantwerp wrote: post #36

I feel like the problem is less that supply chains are globalized, and more that they aren't redundant. By that I mean, there's too much reliance on China as the primary producer/exporter for countless industries and products. Having just one nation account for such a large share of manufacturing introduces single points of failure. It would be wise to have multiple sources for any given good, especially if it's esse…

Small buffers, as little "waste" as possible - dark side of driving costs as low as possible when having reserves is not mandated by law (like in banking).Just In Time production system, Lean etc have all this minimization built in and elevated to a core values. Time to embrace some kinds of process "waste"?

I tend to see it in the same light. I think just in time and inventory not sitting on shelves has a lot to do with it. There is no buffer to soften the shock anymore. Things are made, and shipped as the demand is happening or as close to that point as possible. This happens all the way down the chain. Critical goods should have a mandatory back-supply.
Post reply on HN