The EETimes reports that equipment maker Cisco plans to invest over a billion dollars in India during the next three years. They began work in India in 1995 and they have an R&D center in India with 1400 workers.

The investment includes:

• $750 million for R&D projects
• $150 million earmarked to Cisco Systems Capital for financial assistance to customers and partners
• $100 million invested in Indian start-ups

According to Cisco's CEO the internet and related technologies will be a key enabler for India to become a developed nation. Wonder if there is something in it for Cisco as well?

The Graduate School of Business & Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School announces the 3^rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium to be held May 17-18, 2006 in Monterey, CA. This conference focuses on public-sector acquisition.

Topics include supply chain management, acquisition and procurement policy, public budgeting and finance, cost management, and logistics management. There are others in the literature.

Proposals are due by December 1, 2005.

The ISM Report on Business, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing and reported here monthly, is an excellent tool to help you devise your procurement strategies. Other countries also have economic activity reports based on the ISM methodology.

China   www.clsa.com

France  www.cdaf.assoc.fr

Germany www.bme.de

Japan www.nomura.co.jp

UK www.cips.org

Some 3PLs are providing increased service levels to their customers who may be mismanaging the logistics portion of their business. In addition to managing warehouses and inventory, these 3PLs are helping to manage the supply chain to determine accruate stocking levels, insuring on-time delivery of products,  and calculating fill-rates, inventory turns, and ROI. These value added services either supplement the logistics and supply chain managment functions in companies or fill a need when no function exists.

Read more in Industrial Distribution Magazine

SCM Wire. You read it. Would you want to listen to it?

A quick SCM Wire Poll to see if you would be interested in listening to a reasonably short SCM Wire podcast at some point? I'm dying to get a handle on the technology, have wicked interesting things to say, and would promise to speak s-l-o-w-l-y and c-l-e-a-r-ly.

Let me know if you are poscast fans and if you'd be interested in listening to one of mine.

Well, I'll be honest. The picture of Tony Stewart on the Society of Manufacturing Engineers home page caught my attention and I clicked. Seems that SME is hosting. The Manufacturing for Performance Conference & Exhibits 2006 will take place at the Indiana Convention Center January 23-25, 2006.

The event is focused on the motorsports industry and include manufacturing operations, material technologies, prototyping, and other neat manufacturing related topics. Benny Parsons will deliver the keynote. Looks interesting.

Myself, I'm a Kenny Wallace fan. No one can accuse me of being a frontrunner!

A recent survey by AMR Research has identified the top supply chain investments for 2005. Here are the top five:

• 19% Supply chain visibility and event management
• 19% Demand forecasting
• 10% Data warehousing, business intelligence, analytics
• 8% Sales and operations planning

Others of interest, based on their low score:

• 5% Contract management  /coordination
• 4% Strategic sourcing
• 1% Digital procurement
• 1% Global trade management

If you are an APICS member, you are eligible for a free copy of the 2005 Conference Proceedings.

Members can obtain their free copy of the proceedings through the APICS Bookstore by contacting APICS Customer Support by phone at (800) 444- 2742 or (703) 354-8851.

Nonmembers may purchase the proceedings also, but there is a cost. The APICS Bookstore has a lot of supply chain and operations management resources.

The National Association of Manufacturers is a formidable trade group that supports all things manufacturing. They are an increasingly strong voice for manufacturing, from litigation to labor to methods. Headed by former Michigan Governor John Engler, they seem to be becoming much more politically active.

Case in point. They came out late last summer publicly in support in the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court. This trade group endorsement seemed to break new ground. While their ongoing motivation is to reduce corporate litigation, and has been for quite a while, this endorsement seemed to raise some questions about their underlying mission and purpose. They feel that Roberts would work to reduce litigation. It was not the endorsement of Roberts per se, but an endorsement of a Supreme Court member at all.

Are they a trade group or a PAC? Or both? Is the NAM becoming too political? Should trade organizations enter into the political fray? Does it matter to you? 

Modern Materials Handling has published an article listing the top 20 automatic data capture suppliers. There was growth in the segment in 2004, but it was not RFID driven. It was driven from traditional technology solutions. Here are the top five suppliers:

1. Symbol Technologies
2. Intermec Technologies
3. Danaher
4. Zebra Technologies
5. Sato Corporation

The segment is growing due to companies upgrading aging systems, China improving its supply chains, and the technology entering new business segments such as health care and government applications.

A recent Purchasing Magazine OnlinePoll asked respondents about their low cost country sourcing activities:

• 36% Manufacturing
• 30% Components
• 22% Not doing LCCS
• 7% N/A
• 5% Design

Here is a good resource from the AAPA on "who's who" in the port industry. It provides links to ports which allows you to dig further into contact information, facilities, links, and more.  It also has some supplier info included.

2006 approaches. What do you see as the one major issue supply chain managment professionals will be facing in the upcoming year? How do you think you will handle it?

Please share your best practices for the (ever expanding) SCM Wire community.

Interesting to watch the NFL games yesterday and see the UPS adds where they were comparing two toy companies and showed that the one with the most efficient supply chain (actually used the words) had a competitive advantage over the one that didn’t. It is nothing new to have UPS strut their stuff on television, but to single out supply chain management as a competitive advantage was new to me. Look like we are coming more and more into the mainstream!

As for the play of the NY Giants………enough said.

No surprises. That's been the motto of every operations boss I ever worked for. Here is a new feature from FedEx freight that might help.

FedEx Freight Advance Notice is a free service that will advise shippers of a "rare" shipment delay. They will get an e-mail or fax. Now the hard part. Once they receive such a notice, they need to contact you to let you know the shipment is delayed.

I've often found that the proactive "the shipment is delayed" is better than the reactive "where is the shipment?". In any case it was always my fault, but I felt better with the info in my hands.