Supply Chain by the Numbers
 

-September 11, 2008
   
 

The Numbers Worth Knowing this Week in Supply Chain and Logistics
   
 

This Week: Kimberly Clark Hugs Less Road with its "Network of the Future Redesign;" Dell Manufacturing - Exit Stage Left; Steel Prices Remain Hard as Steel; Outsourcing "Strikes" Fear Among Boeing Machinists

   
 
 
 

13 million+

Total number of transportation miles saved in 2007 as a result of Kimberly Clark’s “Supply Chain Network of the Future,” redesign effort, which dramatically reduced distribution points and moved DCs closer to customers, according to Mark Jamison, VP of North American Customer Supply Chain, in an interview with SCDigest.
 
 



 

2

The number of “touches” Dell still has for many notebook computers, as contract manufacturers partially assemble the units, which are then shipped to and finalized in Dell-owned assembly plants. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Dell was looking to sell off all its remaining factories and exit the manufacturing business.
 
 
$900

The projected price per metric ton for steel in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the researchers at Asia’s Aseambankers. That’s down 25% from Q2’s high of around US $1200 per ton, but still above Q4 2007 levels.
 
 
 
 
2002

 

 

The year Boeing was able to get its union to agree to allow aircraft component suppliers to deliver parts directly to manufacturing lines. Continued increases in outsourcing by Boeing – and a fear that eventually suppliers will actually install components - is perhaps the primary issue in the current strike by the machinist’s union that began Saturday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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