FeedNavigator: New interactive tool designed to show country-specific supply chain regulations . “Risk assurer, LRQA, has published a map outlining country-specific supply chain and [Environmental, Social and Governance] legislation.”
New York Times: How A.I. and DNA Are Unlocking the Mysteries of Global Supply Chains. “Amid growing concern about opacity and abuses in global supply chains, companies and government officials are increasingly turning to technologies like DNA tracking, artificial intelligence and blockchains to try to trace raw materials from the source to the store.”
National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Collaborative Database Maps Lithium-Ion Supply Chain Landscape. “The Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain Database [is] an ongoing collaboration between NAATBatt International and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to identify every company in North America involved in building lithium-ion batteries from mining to manufacturing to recycling. First released in September 2021 and funded by NAATBatt International, this database is the first comprehensive directory of its kind. A recent update in 2022 significantly expands on the database.”
Bleeping Computer: Over 1,000 iOS apps found exposing hardcoded AWS credentials. “Security researchers are raising the alarm about mobile app developers relying on insecure practices that expose Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials, making the supply chain vulnerable. Malicious actors could take advantage of this to access private databases, leading to data breaches and the exposure of customers’ personal data.”
HackRead: Hackers can spoof commit metadata to create false GitHub repositories. “Checkmarx security researchers have warned about an emerging new supply chain attack tactic involving spoofed metadata commits to present malicious GitHub repositories as legit.”
Ars Technica: “Everything is gone”: Russian business hit hard by tech sanctions. “Russian companies have been plunged into a technological crisis by Western sanctions that have created severe bottlenecks in the supply of semiconductors, electrical equipment, and the hardware needed to power the nation’s data centers.”
National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Battery Policies and Incentives Database Contributes to U.S. Efforts To Build a Secure Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain. “The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) new Battery Policies and Incentives database, developed and managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is helping to address the batteries need. The database is intended to help advance the adoption of zero-emission vehicles by providing information and data that inform the production of EV batteries and development of a secure domestic battery supply chain. The database allows users to search for policies and financial incentives by jurisdiction, battery chemistry, federal agency, status, and type, as well as other topics, to customize the information to each specific need.”
Ars Technica: Shanghai’s plan to reboot the supply chain will hit workers the hardest. “…the central government in Beijing has made it a priority to restart Shanghai’s industrial sector. Liu He, the Chinese vice premier, announced this week that the government would aim to stabilize the country’s supply chain by helping 666 companies in COVID-ravaged Shanghai reboot their operations. Doing that while the city continues to battle China’s worst COVID outbreak since the pandemic began may prove an enormous challenge—and may not succeed in curbing the disruption that the global supply chain could feel for weeks or months to come.”
Coconuts Manila: Tater Tragedy: McDonald’s Philippines halts sales of large fries due to potato shortage. “If you’ve recently left a McDonald’s counter frustrated and clueless as to why they’re out of larger french fry sizes, then the fast food chain has some answers: McDonald’s Philippines has announced that the global shipping crisis has caused a shortage of their beloved french fries.”
New York TImes: Lockdowns in China Block Truck Shipments and Close Factories. “China’s mounting Covid-19 restrictions are creating further disruptions to global supply chains for consumer electronics, car parts and other goods. A growing number of Chinese cities are requiring truck drivers to take daily Covid P.C.R. tests before allowing them to cross municipal borders or are quarantining drivers deemed to be at risk of infection. The measures have limited how quickly drivers can move components among factories and goods from plants to ports.”
InformationWeek: Supply Chain Strategies: 3D Printing Our Way Out of Russia’s War. “Among mounting supply chain obstacles stemming from Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine are financial sanctions, closed air spaces, trapped shipments, and wartime aggressions. Both sides in this conflict aim to disrupt the other side’s logistics. Earlier supply chain management and company resiliency plans are rendered impotent in the face of so many risks. They’re simply no match for willful destruction and the intense reverberations of war. In short, this situation calls for a massive rethink on the structure of supply chains and their ecosystems rather than a tweaking of inventory and supply management technologies.”
CNN: White House will unveil new data-sharing initiative with companies to address supply chain crunch. “The Biden White House, trying to expand its limited supply of inflation-fighting tools, will on Tuesday unveil a new one. Dubbed ‘Freight Logistics Optimization Works,’ or FLOW, the effort joins administration officials and major private sector businesses in a data-sharing initiative designed to enhance the efficiency with which companies move imported goods to stores.”
AFP: Ford curbs N.American production as chip shortage hits: media. “Major automaker Ford will cut its North American vehicle production next week due to a semiconductor shortage, US media reported Saturday. Ford plans to suspend production of vehicles including the Ford Bronco, the popular F-150 pickup and the new Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle at its plants in Michigan, Illinois and Mexico, according to outlets including CNBC.”
New York Times: Supply Chain Woes Could Worsen as China Imposes New COVID Lockdowns. “Companies are bracing for another round of potentially debilitating supply chain disruptions as China, home to about one-third of global manufacturing, imposes sweeping lockdowns in an attempt to keep the omicron variant at bay.”
KnowTechie: Canon is encouraging printer owners to break DRM so they can use ink cartridges. “Printers that use DRM-locked ink cartridges are the worst. Many of the major brands use them, but things could be changing. Thanks to global chip shortages, Canon Germany is now offering guidance on how to break its own DRM system.”
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