Supply Chain Blog

BSI Supply Chain Solutions is the leading global provider of supply chain intelligence, auditing services, audit compliance and risk management software solutions, and advisory services. Our mission is to help corporations, governments and associations identify, manage and mitigate global supply chain risks and maintain world class governance, risk and compliance programs.

Recent postings

February 14 2024

Takeaways from BSI Connect SCREEN’s Quarterly Risk Intelligence Outlook: Part 3 >

Jason Willoughby and Heather Mullen, Intelligence Analysts at BSI, highlight several trends discussed in the BSI Connect SCREEN Quarterly Risk Intelligence Outlook for Q4 2023, and expectations for the remainder of Q1 2024.

January 30 2024

Feeding the future: Food supply chain trends 2024 >

Blog description: Erica Bressner and Jason Willoughby, Lead Business Intelligence Analysts at BSI, explore the convergence of economic, environmental, and geopolitical factors shaping the food and beverage supply chain in 2024.

January 11 2024

Can AI help eradicate modern slavery? >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience at BSI, discusses the potential for AI to be a powerful tool in eradicating modern slavery and creating more transparent supply chains.

November 16 2023

CTPAT best practices >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI, completes his series on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program on best practices that participants have used to enhance supply chain security and streamline operations.

Takeaways from BSI Connect SCREEN’s Quarterly Risk Intelligence Outlook: Part 2 >

Erica Bressner, Intelligence Analyst, Global Intelligence, BSI, highlights a number of trends discussed in the BSI Connect SCREEN Quarterly Risk Intelligence Outlook for Q3.

October 05 2023

Maintaining and improving CTPAT compliance >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI, continues the series on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and discusses the revalidation process and the importance of maintaining compliance with the program's guidelines.

September 28 2023

Emerging technologies: Part 2: Merging privacy by design and supply chain >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI explains how to merge privacy by design and default with the supply chain to ensure the responsible handing of data and mitigation of security risks throughout the supplier lifecycle.

September 21 2023

Weathering the challenges: Ensuring food security in a changing climate >

Climate change and natural disasters continue to disrupt the food industry. Neil Coole, Director of Food and Retail, BSI, explores the global impact of adverse weather events and provides mitigation advice to prepare organizations for potential incidents.

September 21 2023

CTPAT training >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI continues his series on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and covers the security training requirements your organization must undergo.

September 14 2023

Reshaping logistics: Path to emissions transparency >

Ryan Lynch, Sustainability Director, BSI explores the pressing challenges the logistics industry faces in understanding greenhouse gas data within transportation networks.

August 28 2023

Takeaways from BSI Connect SCREEN’s Quarterly Risk Intelligence Outlook: Part 1 >

Erica Bressner, Intelligence Analyst, Global Intelligence, BSI, discusses top trends in supply chain risk and what organizations can expect to see through the rest of this year and beyond.

August 24 2023

CTPAT risk assessment: Why it matters >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI, continues his series on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and addresses the importance of conducting a risk assessment.

August 24 2023

Greenwashing: The unhealthy side of the food industry >

As environmental scrutiny increases across the globe, Neil Coole, Director of Food & Retail, BSI discusses the rise of greenwashing in the food industry and ways to enhance organizational reputation to avoid accusations from eco-conscious consumers.

August 03 2023

Leveraging technology to secure supply chains >

David Fairnie, Principal Consultant, Supply Chain Security, BSI explores leveraging digital technologies to address verification and traceability to enhance supply chain visibility and risk management.

July 26 2023

Bridging the gap between food fraud and food security >

Neil Coole, Director of Food & Retail, BSI explores how operational strains in the food sector have led to an increase in supply chain food fraud and security breaches and offers advice for mitigating these issues to enhance organizational resilience.

July 20 2023

CTPAT security guidelines: Protecting the global supply chain >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI continues the series on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and covers the security guidelines that organizations must follow to participate.

July 10 2023

Reducing Scope 3 impacts through supplier improvement >

During AAFA’s webinar Reducing Scope 3 GHG Emissions, BSI Sustainability Practice Director Ryan Lynch discusses methods to engage and enable internal stakeholders and suppliers to develop and execute their own greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies.

June 14 2023

Navigating the risks in the hemp and cannabis industry >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, discusses the unique risks and challenges in hemp and cannabis quality control, sourcing, and transportation and how to address these to ensure product sustainability and consumer safety.

June 08 2023

2023 Supply chain insights: Part 5: Future-proofing supply chain resilience >

In the final blog of our Supply chain risk insights series, Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI, reflects on our new, multi-faceted supply chain and highlights three priorities for organizations to consider in the year ahead.

June 01 2023

Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Series Part 1: What is CTPAT and what are its benefits >

Tony Pelli, Practice Director, Security & Resilience, BSI breaks down the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and offers an introduction to the eligibility requirements and the benefits of the certification.

May 11 2023

2023 Supply chain insights: Part 4: Mitigate risk by embracing innovation >

In part four of our Supply Chain Risk Insights series, Mark Brown, Global Managing Director, Digital Trust Consulting, BSI discusses how embracing innovation can enhance overall supply-chain operations.

April 13 2023

2023 Supply Chain Insights: Part 3: Reducing the pressure >

In part three of our Supply Chain Risk Insights series, Jim Yarbrough, Global Director, Supply Chain Solutions, BSI walks through processes to implement within your organization’s supply chain to help ease the pressures of global uncertainty and keep business thriving.

April 06 2023

Global supply chain challenges: Forced labor, tariffs, theft, and digital security >

In the upcoming OCTC 34th Annual Conference, Tony Pelli, Practice Director for Security and Resilience, BSI will address such global supply chain challenges as forced labor, tariffs, theft, and digital security, along with other issues in the manufacturing and legal sectors.

March 30 2023

Do you know where your shipments are? How visibility technology can mitigate cargo theft and security risk >

Cargo theft costs businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and the ripple effect can be disruptive and disastrous. Tony Pelli, Practice Director of Security & Resilience at BSI, sheds light on how companies are mitigating such risks and preventing theft through the utilization of visibility technology.

March 09 2023

2023 Supply Chain Insights: Part 2: Cybersecurity in the spotlight >

Global Managing Director Mark Brown, Digital Trust Consulting, BSI uncovers why the increase of cyberattacks in the digital supply chain must become a top priority for organizations. Read part two of our Supply Chain Risk Insights Report series on the most notable supply chain risks your organization must keep a close eye on to lead toward a more sustainable future.

February 09 2023

2023 Supply Chain Insights: Part 1: Diversify to de-risk your supply chain >

BSI’s Security and Resilience Practice Director Tony Pelli weighs in on the benefits of supplier diversification to reduce risks within your supply chain. Read Part 1 of our Supply Chain Risk Insights Report series on the trends that will impact your organization throughout 2023.

November 21 2022

Notes From the Summit: Supply Chain Intelligence Insights >

During BSI’s 5th Annual Connect Summit, Jim Yarbrough, BSI's Global Director, Supply Chain Solutions, shared a preview of the upcoming BSI Supply Chain Risk Insights Report (SCIR). This annual intelligence report identifies the trends and associated risks impacting global supply chains for the year ahead and shares insights from BSI's experts and advisors on mitigating risks to ensure your organization will not just survive but thrive in 2023.

January 05 2023

How Artificial Intelligence Bolsters Global Supply Chains >

The continued disruption of supply chains suggests that the challenges of the COVID-19 era have been more than a blip in an otherwise stable period of global business. Supply chain professionals must consider that this instead marks the beginning of a new era of continuous disruption, and it’s time to take proactive action to prepare.

November 01 2022

Practice Makes Permanent: Preparing for Extreme Weather Events >

As the list of historic extreme weather events and affected areas continues to grow, organizations, regardless off geographic location, need to tailor their current business continuity plans. Read BSI’s Principal Consultant David Bernstein's Practice Makes Permanent as part of our ongoing Business Continuity and Disruption Prevention series.

October 20 2022

Back to Basics: Business Continuity & Disruption Prevention >

Follow along as our Security & Resilience practice experts address the future of organizational security in the ongoing Business Continuity and Disruption Prevention Thought Leadership series. Read as Senior Consultant Susan Zielan addresses how to develop a business continuity plan for your organization.

September 08 2022

Business Continuity and Disruption Prevention: Supply Chain Resilience >

Supply chain disruptions caused by climate change, workforce challenges, and political instability will be felt for the foreseeable future; BSI's Security & Resilience Practice Director Tony Pelli discusses the urgency surrounding supply chain resilience within business continuity planning. Tony will be sharing his recommendations during Disaster Recovery Journal's 2022 conference on September 11 to 14 in Phoenix.

July 28 2022

Understanding the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) >

On June 21, the UFLPA went into effect mandating importers will now have to prove that all goods imported into any U.S. port of entry are not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor in the People's Republic of China. BSI’s leaders discuss the implications of this law and what it means for your business’s supply chain, sustainability, and security efforts.

June 02 2022

Proactive Security Risk Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry >

The pandemic forced the pharmaceutical industry to realize that meeting new demands requires unprecedented growth in both medication development and distribution, but also in adopting and incorporating innovative technological solutions. Read Tony Pelli's blog on the security risks within the pharmaceutical industry and register for BSI’s upcoming webinar on the state of the industry.

February 19 2022

Canadian Trucker Protests >

As the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and leads to an increase in social unrest and demonstrations against new regulations, so too does its complex impact on the supply chain.

January 17 2022

Benefits of Using Blockchain Solutions for the Supply Chain >

When businesses grow, the need to keep the supply chain secure and scalable grows equally fast. At the same time, several common challenges become more important to solve, such as poorly managed inventory and keeping track of the work done by distribution subcontractors. Goods can get lost or damaged, while there often is no way of knowing exactly when and where issues are explicitly occurring in the supply chain.

Addressing supply chain pain >

February 02 2022

Supply chain decisions for business success and a greener planet >

As regulatory regimes evolve, how do we ensure we make the supply chain decisions that can shape business success and support a cleaner, greener planet?

January 12 2022

What do we need to know about our suppliers? >

If you want to create a resilient and sustainable supply chain, you’ve got to start by knowing who your business partners are and identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Failure to conduct this kind of basic due diligence is like being in a darkened room without a key. At best, such negligence will eventually result in over-reliance on an unreliable partner or on too few critical suppliers – witness, for example, recent high-profile shortages of semiconductors, masks and PPE.

January 04 2022

Delivering supply chain resilience in 2022 >

The supply chain journey starts by understanding your suppliers and building trust to put genuine partnership right at the heart of your supply chain strategy.

December 17 2020

The state of supply chains in 2020 and what’s ahead in 2021 >

Throughout 2020, global supply chains faced one of the largest threats to security, continuity, and resiliency with the COVID-19 pandemic which continues to cause disruptions, threaten supply chains, and have residual impacts.

May 25 2020

Prioritizing Issues and Reducing Risk >

Meeting compliance regulations is not always intuitive. A Prioritization of Issues (POI) assessment can help management teams determine what needs improvement and what is working well. Using POI services can also lend a fresh perspective to existing challenges and garner innovative solutions.

March 17 2020

Global Supply Chain Disruption Looms in 2020 >

Domestic unrest percolating around the world, the force of climate change, and expansion into new markets will all converge in 2020 and create an environment where ensuring supply chain security will be challenging.

January 31 2020

Sustainability in Asia: The Daunting Complexities in Vietnam >

As supply chains spanning Asia evolve in the wake of the U.S.-China Trade War and sustainability challenges throughout the continent, as well as lingering instability and disruptions to business continuity in Hong Kong, retailers and brands are searching for alternative supply chain partners in nearby nations such as Vietnam.

September 17 2019

Xenophobic Violence Raises Danger for Cargo Truck Drivers in South Africa >

BSI has noted an increased danger to cargo truck drivers in South Africa due to ongoing xenophobic violence against foreigners, specifically foreign truck drivers hailing from other nearby nations such as Zimbabwe.

August 12 2019

Supply Chain Security in South America >

BSI Intelligence recorded historic incidents in supply chain security relevant to South America. Two separate cocaine seizures, one of an estimated nearly 18 tonnes and another of 4.5 tonnes, originating from the region and a bold armed robbery at an air cargo terminal in Brazil exemplify the range of supply chain risks rampant throughout South America.

July 31 2019

Risk Trends Impacting Agriculture and the Food Industry >

BSI Intelligence monitors food safety and food fraud issues globally alongside how security, business continuity, and corporate social responsibility threats threaten food supply chains. Recently in SCREEN, BSI has taken note of some emergent threats specific to agriculture and food supply chains that are also quite illustrative of why U.S. Customs and Border Protection added a new category of requirements surrounding agricultural security to the recent MSC revision.

July 12 2019

The Impact of Political Protests on Business Continuity >

Over the past months, waves of political protests have wracked Hong Kong. Ranging in size from millions of people surrounding the Legislative Council to tens of thousands of demonstrators marching through shopping areas and rail stations, these political protests disrupted business continuity within and through Hong Kong.

June 25 2019

Preparing Your Supply Chain for Severe Weather Challenges >

Natural disasters and other severe weather events remain a ceaselessly difficult-to-predict risk to business continuity in any supply chain. BSI noted again how several major weather events in recent months disrupted supply chains throughout Southeast Asia, creating an assortment of challenges for companies and shippers in the area.

June 06 2019

CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria Revision – Part Three >

As part of our ongoing coverage of the CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria revision, the BSI intelligence team, partnered with BSI Senior Supply Chain Risk Consultant Mr. Tony Pelli, will be providing detailed reporting and analysis of the revision through a multi-part series in SCREEN. This blog post contains the third part in the series and covers the revisions to physical security, instruments of international traffic (also known as conveyance security), and seal security. For compilations of our previous analysis covering the new MSC categories and the reasons for the revisions, see "CTPAT MSC Revision - Part One" and “CTPAT MSC Revision – Part Two.”

May 24 2019

CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria Revision – Part Two >

This blog post contains the second part in the series and covers the new MSC category “Agricultural Security” as well as a discussion of the fundamental differences between the new and legacy MSC categories, the possible reasoning for instituting these new categories and for conducting the overall MSC revision, and how this revision will impact supply chains globally.

May 10 2019

CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria Revision >

BSI Senior Supply Chain Risk Consultant Tony Pelli, will be providing detailed reporting and analysis of the revision through a multi-part series in SCREEN. This blog post contains the first parts in the series and covers the new MSC categories “Security Vision and Responsibility” and “Cybersecurity.”

April 26 2019

Risk Factors for Labor Exploitation in Global Supply Chains >

The apparel industry faces numerous supply chain-related challenges, ranging from warding against cargo theft to vigilantly combating counterfeiting. However, few challenges are more salient than ensuring a supply chain devoid of labor exploitation. Corporate social responsibility is critical to any business’ reputation and brand.

April 12 2019

Theft and Counterfeiting: Global Threats to Pharmaceutical Supply Chains >

Thieves overwhelmingly strike the trucks moving pharmaceutical products globally, with the trucking modality targeted in almost three-fourths of thefts recorded by BSI. The techniques involved in stealing pharmaceuticals vary, but the most common tactic is stealing from trucks by surreptitiously or overtly accessing the payload, a method which accounts for nearly one-third of thefts, followed by hijacking and theft from a facility.

May 14 2018

Supply Chain Responsibility and EHS Management: A Joint Approach >

Our experience shows that companies spanning across various geographic, political, economic, commercial, and social boundaries need to develop cross-functional relationships to support critical operations, such as supply chain and EHS.

April 17 2018

Cyber and Physical Security Convergence >

The emergence of the internet, and its subsequent convergence with our physical world, has helped make supply chains become much more efficient over the past few decades. Orders automatically drop from sales systems to warehouse management systems, which then generates picking lists and shipping labels; companies can then track the resulting shipment anywhere in the world using RFID and GPS technology. Despite these advances, we’re entering a brave new world of supply chain vulnerability as well, where criminals can create physical security weaknesses by exploiting cybersecurity weaknesses and use physical security gaps to weaken cybersecurity.

March 26 2018

Blurred Lines: How Cargo Theft, Diversion, and Counterfeiting Interact to Endanger Pharmaceutical Supply Chains >

Pharmaceutical can take a number of steps to proactively respond to the hybrid risks of counterfeiting, theft, and diversion. Understanding areas where price differentials, or rapid changes in prices, intersect with organized criminal groups, open trading environments, and scarcity can help companies narrow down where they should focus their efforts.

February 13 2018

Global Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risks >

With growth in pharmaceutical revenues flat in the United States and Europe, pharmaceutical firms are increasingly looking to emerging markets as a growth strategy. Countries such as Brazil, China, India, and Mexico offer plenty of opportunity for pharmaceutical companies. China’s pharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $150 billion in 2020 and $210 billion in 2025, a growth rate that approaches ten percent each year.

October 03 2017

Developing Skills to Support Bottom-up Ownership of Supply Chain Risk Pt. 2 >

In my last post, I stated that strengthening behavioral skills is a necessary area of focus for successful supply chain risk management practitioners. Without capable professionals at multiple levels of multiple organizations who have developed the skills to make informed and independent decisions, the overall network slows, often responding too late to stave off damage or to meet market demands.

September 18 2017

Developing Skills to Support Bottom-up Ownership of Supply Chain Risk Pt. 1 >

A core challenge in managing a secure and responsible supply chain is, and will always be, scalability. Any risk or challenge that an organization faces inherently becomes all the more weighty, fragmented and complex as it is multiplied by hundreds or thousands of supplier sites.

August 03 2017

Cargo insurance costs rise in Mexico, amid a deteriorating security environment >

2017 is shaping up to be a challenging year in Mexico. While global headlines have focused heavily on the knock on effects of Donald Trump’s election on his neighbors – the fluctuation of the peso, jittery investors in a climate of high uncertainty surrounding future trade relations – inside Mexico, divergent but significant security worries are keeping many up late into the night. In particular, recent news that a number of major insurers have pulled the plug on cargo insurance, has created concerns for a number of Clients.

October 18 2016

Thinking about your local operating environment – A Mexican context >

Mexico has a complex operating environment with significant security, environmental, social and political challenges for those either transporting goods through the country, or with export focused operations there.

June 15 2016

What is the Total Cost of Risk? >

For the most part, security concerns are an afterthought in these decisions. Executives often think of security in terms of personnel protection or higher-level geopolitical risks, with product losses considered an insignificant cost. As a result, corporate or supply chain security professionals struggle to convince their organization that investments in security can help prop up the bottom line.

July 18 2016

Supply Chain Security Programs: Maintaining Effective and Efficient Compliance >

U.S. Customs’ Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) the World Customs Organization’s AEO programs have expanded to close to 40 different countries with another 16 or so in development.

July 05 2016

Trafficking and slavery analysis: China and Vietnam >

We recently reported a story to our SCREEN subscribers that Chinese police arrested members of a gang that trafficked migrants from Vietnam to work illegally in factories in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.

September 06 2016

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act >

On February 24, 2016 President Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which provides changes to the way U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will approach trade enforcement in the future and establishes priority trade issues to provide the roadmap for trade enforcement moving forward.

August 23 2016

Cargo Theft: What Are Your Risk Factors? >

Evaluations of cargo theft risk have typically focused on geographic risk and cargo theft data. What other factors are important to evaluate when assessing the risk of cargo theft?

December 07 2016

Airline Industry Supply Chain Threats >

Supply chain risk concerns are increasingly becoming more important to the Airline industry, as commercial engagements between Airline Operators and their suppliers of Ground Handling Agents (GHAs) become more global in nature.

January 30 2017

The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility >

A study conducted by the Sloan School of Management at MIT found a correlation between stock performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in firms over a three-decade period from 1980 to 2009. The study examined the impact of positive and negative events on companies' stock performance.

September 12 2016

Understand Enterprise Risk to Build Resiliency >

Creating a baseline understanding of where risk exists in your global supply chain will allow you to prioritize which threats can cause the greatest disruption.

November 17 2017

Managing a Responsible Supply Chain: Development of Leadership >

When facing this type of crisis of confidence in leadership the temptation is to wring our hands about what constitutes the profile of the perfect leader; but that isn’t the right solution for the challenges we face today. Instead, the challenge set before each of us should be to embrace the role of leader in our own work and daily interactions. That requires an investment in the development of leadership capabilities at all levels of the organization and society.

June 21 2016

Increase in CBP Seizures Due to Forced Labor >

A recent SCREEN report stated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has blocked shipments of stevia, a sugar substitute, imported from China by a single American company. Authorities announced that the product was made with the use of convict labor, and thus in violation of U.S. law covering imports. The firm claims that this information is inaccurate and has since submitted documentation in an attempt to reverse the decision.

July 05 2016

The Challenge of Variability >

Variability inhibits companies from basing all of their day-to-day decisions squarely on valid and current data and intelligence.

August 01 2016

CSR Insight Supply Chain Slavery >

Based on a number of recent conversations I’ve had with various CSR practitioners, many companies are wrestling with how to effectively approach disclosure requirements related to human trafficking and supply chain slavery, including those of the UK Modern Slavery Act and California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. The companies generally fall into one of two groups.

June 21 2016

Introducing the BSI Supply Chain Blog >

Welcome to the new BSI Supply Chain Blog! We are excited to start sharing information, tips, guidance, hot topics, and advice with you.

September 19 2016

Following up on supplier performance: Who owns the corrective actions? >

Managing and driving improvement in the performance, quality and on-time delivery of a large supplier base is a significant challenge. As it relates to social and environmental practices, improving supplier performance may be even more challenging, in part due to potential ambiguity over roles and responsibilities related to the corrective action process, and a lack of understanding over the value gained.

July 11 2016

Hidden dangers of 'thinning' supply chains >

Supply chain companies now adopt ‘lean’ manufacturing processes and ‘just in time’ distribution methods to trim excess cost.

Also in our supply chain blog category

Various business continuity disruptions, their predictability, and mitigation approaches.
Business Continuity >
Expertise and insights on security risks and ways to examine and address them.
Security >
Supply chain experts share insights on risks and ways you can be better prepared.
Risk Management >
Join the discussion as our experts analyze current situations happening globally.
Corporate Social Responsibility >