How are Australian supply chains coping with the global financial market crisis?

As usual inventory levels were allowed to run down due to lower demand, then as demand has picked up, there has been a lag and shortage in some areas as the production and inventory levels have not been balanced to demand. Hence again demand forecasting and planning must pick up signs of increased demand to ensure a balanced supply chain.

In the Coal export area a lack of end to end planning, scheduling and end to end process management has resulted in significant delays and added costs to producers. These problems can be adddressed but to date have had not successful root cause analysis fixes. Solutions are available if teh stakeholders are prepared to think outside teh box a little.