Supply Chain by the Numbers
   
 

-August 13 , 2010
   
 

This Week’s Supply Chain by the Numbers for August 13, 2010

   
 

Toyota's Lean Beating Unjustified? More Rail Cars out of Mothballs; S&OP Continues to Go Global; Trade Deficit, or Total Trade Volume?

   
 
 
 

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The number out of 58 accident cases examined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in which there was any evidence of some failure on the part of a Toyota automobile, according to a report this week. In the majority of cases, the electronic recorders on the vehicles showed the car’s brakes were never even applied prior to the collision. The data now have many questioning whether there were any real quality problems to begin with – this after Toyota and “lean manufacturing” took a beating over the alleged "sticking accelerator" incidents.
 
 



 

50%

The percent of companies this year which are managing supply chain planning and Sales & Operations Planning on a globally integrated level (versus more local/regionalized approaches), according to a recent study by PRTM. The number is expected to grow to 60% by 2012.

 
 
 
143,000

Number of rail cars that have been pulled out of storage since last summer, when the rail freight recovery began. July marked the 13th straight month of a positive change in the number of rail cars being put into service, with the number of idle cars down to 23.4% of the total, according to the Association of American Railroads. That is still well above levels seen before the recession, however.
 
 
 
 
$350.8 billion

The total volume of US global trade (imports and exports) in June, according to data released this week by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. Many observers are focusing on the rise in the total trade deficit to $49.9 billion, its highest level since September 2008, as a negative. But it may be smarter to focus on the total volume of global trade, which at $350.8 billion is an amazing 42.6% above the April 2009 low of $246 billion.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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