Supply Chain

The Worst Supply Chain in the USA?

April 27, 2009

It's only April, but far and away the early leader in the unofficial voting for the country's worst supply chain of 2009 is Peanut Corp. of America. Every revelation about this company's operations is an embarrassment. As this USA Today article explains, PCA's supply chain is the poster child for everything that's gone wrong with the food safety system in the country.

But then again, reading between the lines, this article also provides plenty of compelling reasons why the U.S. Government's Food & Drug Administration places a very close second to PCA for the designation of the worst supply chain in America. If you check out the timeline on the whole PCA debacle, it becomes clear it's not even a matter of which party is in the White House or which party controls Congress -- the FDA's policies of looking the other way when it comes to PCA date back to the Clinton Administration, and apparently they kept looking elsewhere during the GWB years.

In short, this is a systemic mess.

That being said, there could be other, equally worthy choices for the title of the country's worst supply chain. Feel free to nominate any company you feel out-performs PCA in their application of worst practices.

About the Author

Dave Blanchard Blog | Senior Editor

Focus: Supply Chain

Email: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter @supplychainDave

Call: 216-931-9794

Contributing Editor Dave Blanchard provides the IndustryWeek audience his expertise in lean supply chain, reporting on topics from logistics, procurement and inventory management to warehousing and distribution. He also specializes in business finance news and analysis, writing on such topics as corporate finance and tax, cost management, governance, risk and compliance, and budgeting and reporting.

Dave is also the chief editor of Penton Media’s Business Finance and editorial director of Material Handling & Logistics.

With over 25 years of experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), and is a frequent speaker at industry events. Dave is an award-winning journalist and has been twice named one of the nation’s top columnists by the American Society of Business Publications Editors.

Dave received his B.A. in English from Northern Illinois University, and was a high school teacher prior to his joining the publishing industry. He is married and has two daughters.