Supply Chain

The new COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax is safe and effective. Better yet, it’s easy to ship and store, making it ideal for poorer countries that are still under-vaxxed.

WASHINGTON – Mitch Spencer’s business costs soared after the U.S. imposed tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese imports four years ago.

Spencer’s company, Polaris Rare Earth Materials, based in Carmel, Indiana, makes engine parts with its business partner at a factory in China and sells them primarily to the automotive industry in the United States.

The tumultuous disruption of global supply chains, first crippled by the pandemic shutdowns and then further disrupted by war in Europe, has accelerated the collapse of the ever-weakening, decades-long consensus for global trade and economic globalization. From pandemic-related lockdowns around the world to US port bottlenecks and rising gasoline and food prices, supply chain challenges have filled headlines and worried businesses, consumers, and public policy officials. “Just-in-time” production over the last 30 years has relied on global supply chains that needed to be reliable, secure, and efficient. The pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns reduced economic activity around the world, idling parts of supply chains that other parts needed to maintain production, undermining the resiliency of supply chains in an interconnected world.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – While North Carolina’s COVID-19 state of emergency will end next month, health experts said the pandemic is not over and projected another rise in cases and hospitalizations as the Omicron subvariant BA.5 has become dominant in the United States.

We’re now more than 130 days into the war in Ukraine, caused by Russia’s invasion. And as experts predicted early in the crisis, it’s fueling a hunger problem in some parts of the world. 

Frequent investors are more likely than the general public to recognize importance of ESG ratings, though there’s widespread recognition that gauging the quality of environmental claims is difficult

In this Q&A, supply chain expert Zachary Collier looks at some ways supply chains are threatened today and how companies need to avoid a single point of failure in supply chains.

Despite the political rhetoric, the world has continued to rely on China-centric global supply chains over the COVID-19 pandemic.  Shanghai’s 2-month lockdown disrupted operations at the factories and at the world’s largest port, creating even greater ramifications for China and the world than the impact from an earlier lockdown in the tech hub of Shenzhen. In late April, Apple warned that the lockdown in China could affect its revenue by as much as $8 billion.

Supply chain experts warn of increasing disruptions, including many caused by geopolitical strife.

The research, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said work with Ford found the biggest risk came not from strategic suppliers but those providing the company with parts costing 10 cents.