Toyota - Learning how to protect its supply chain from earthquakes

Some very key points in this article about Toyota and how they are approaching Business Continuity Planning....they follow the same model as I teach in my book.

The article does not have it totally correct, but paints some key points.

First they set the target and the goal...to be able to return to full production with in two weeks of any major disaster.  The goal is key, it drives the research, and the planning, and the costs.

They are currently about 80% of the way thru identifying what I call "single points of failure".  Once these are identified, you look to discover protections, backups, or workarounds.  Notice from the article many of the failure points are in their vendors not necessarily in their production facilities.

One of the things they discovered was they need to standardize more of their parts, some parts are slightly different than the same parts for other countries, therefore they could not be used to continue production.

The key is to first set the goal.  The article is here.

Is Your Business Near a Nuclear Reactor - There is Insurance for That

What happens if an earthquake or a Tsunami strikes, or some kind of nuclear safety malfunction....governments institute an "Exclusion Zone"....barring people from entering certain areas.

You can now buy insurance if your business is located in one of these areas and it interrupts your revenues or production.

You can read about the company offering this coverage here.

Our First Real Social Media Hurricane

Hurricane Irene is due this weekend, all along the eastern seaboard government agencies are springing into action.

Companies who have Business Continuity Plans will have a real live chance to execute, keep detailed notes, look for areas to improve or correct.  Those who have no plans, can contact us here to find out how to make them.

Now, to social media will it help your company, are you using it?  Will it help communities?  We will likely see thousands of twitters, twit pics, and facebook updates documenting the hurricane.  But will providers be able to keep up?

During the earthquake in DC this past week, cell phones and text messaging would not work at all....now the providers say it was all okay, just some delays....that's not what the people who used the service say.  Are you counting on your cell phone to work?

What happens if during evacuations, looting takes place, will police or military be deployed.....will looters use blackberry and twitter to co-ordinate.....will the government have the service shut down, like happened in San Fransisco with BART protests, like the British Government is considering after their riots?

At last report, Hurricane Irene is weakening to a Cat 2.....maybe it will blow over, or maybe not.

We may get a chance to see the governments response to disasters like this, will it just be to shut down like NY transit is going to do, will it shut down communications?

We will see.

Dis-inter-mediation, Transaction costs at Checkout

One price breakdown that you never see is what it costs you to buy something with a credit card, or with a debit card, but you know the cost is built into the prices in the store.

This new player in the credit card transaction business, is giving a scare at least to the established players.

Using an I phone and their reader, they give a low cost, no fuss, low overhead solution for small, if not soon every business.

This tight little story about a cupcake shop and what they pay tells a great story and lets you in on the secrets of the game.

Read the article here.

World's Largest Pivot - Bold Move, or the Death of HP?

The word "pivot" is huge in the emerging world of technology start-ups.

Twitter was a pivot, gaming companies made the pivot...its what you do when what your business was to become has hit a stall, and you need to go in another different direction and more or less change the core of your business operations or revenue....on the fly.

HP is the biggest play yet at this as they give up hardware and move into the world of software as there full time core.

The move is either brilliant, as the PC device era is dead, without software revenue to boost it, or its a mistake if they cannot dominate in software.

General Electric was and probably is the best at exiting businesses, just before they have peaked (I have seen them do it brilliantly), but they have a stable of businesses, not just one to rely on for revenue.

Is coding the future, other countries are far ahead of North America in software engineers...the other thing that GE famously did is they would not go into a new business unless they could be number one or two in the market....no third place for them.

This is either a brilliant move if they can pull it off....or the death throws of a giant. Read more here.

London Riots Insurance Estimates Losses at $322 Million Dollars

As we reported before Insurers may make claims against the local police authority for damages from riots if the claims are made within 14 days, the government has agreed to extend the time to make claims under the act to 42 days.

More info in this article.

Stage Collapse Kills Four in Sugarland

As we posted earlier about the stage collapse in Ottawa Ontario, then the band Cheap Trick refused to play the PNE in Vancouver where the same make of stage was used in case it collapsed, another stage has collapsed, leaving 4 dead. Dramatic video shows the collapse at about the 20 sec mark. Unknown if this is the same stage manufacturer, no info at this time.

UPDATE - Another person has died bringing the toll to 5 Dead