CIO — Without question, today's supply chain applications can provide unmatched visibility into a company's supplier base, help spot inefficiencies and allow for better, smarter decision-making on logistics and inventory.

But if several manufacturers in your Chinese or European network suddenly shut down, there's not much software can do at that point. You're on your own.

That is, in fact, a problem that's been staring at companies big and small since the recession began in earnest last fall, and has been amplified each month as new manufacturing data surfaces showing even more risk and uncertainty.

For the Fortune 500 set, for instance, data from CVM Solutions (a supplier-management software vendor) shows that the world's biggest companies rely on a relatively small pool of the same suppliers. And when businesses in this pool sink, it can ultimately mean "interruptions in business operations, financial loss and damage to brand reputation," notes a recent report from CVM.

"Years of strategic sourcing and supplier consolidation has created a dangerously small group of suppliers that receive most of the Fortune 500 companies spend," states the report. "If these common suppliers become 'high risk' suppliers, then that risk will likely impact a high percentage of Fortune 500 companies."

This scenario is likely to become more visible in the auto industry with General Motors' recent bankruptcy filing, as the harsh ripple effects fan out into the global auto parts supply chain.

"As Bad As It Gets"

Making sense of multiple streams of industry data, however, can be challenging, to say the least. A recent New York Times article expressed both optimism and pessimism about the decrepit state of global manufacturing, though the overall message was clear: "Taken together," notes the article, which compares manufacturing data from China, India and other regions, "the data appear to indicate that a global recovery remains some way off and is likely to be feeble."

New global trade data from Panjiva, a vendor that tracks the health of the world's suppliers, shows that "after four months of free fall in the number of manufacturers shipping to American customers," there have been small increases from February 2009 to March, and then from March to April, notes Panjiva CEO Josh Green on his blog. However, he adds, "the news isn't all good."

Data released by Chinese officials, for example, suggests that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, "April was worse than March for the world's largest exporting economy," Green writes. "Risk for those engaged in global trade remains high: The percentage of significant manufacturers on the Panjiva Watch List edged up from 30 percent in March to 31 percent in April."

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