WHAT 2009 BODES FOR THE SUPPLY CHAIN

In an interview, Joel Sutherland, executive and former head of Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, and Dr. John Langley, professor of Supply Chain Management and director of Supply Chain Executive Programs at Georgia Tech, talked about the changes and issues confronting the supply chain in 2009. Sutherland said that they still have volatility. They're back to cheap fuel temporarily because oil is a limited resource. OPEC is trying to control supply. They can't put blinders on and say 'it's okay now and will be fine for years to come', he don't think it's ever going to be fine. Langley added that in the next couple of years the likelihood is that their global business models aren't going to be at the top of their game so it's going to be really important for companies to be scalable. There's going to be great opportunity to achieve efficiency and effectiveness by professionally managing supply chains.