NEW YORK (Oct 24, 2001 via PRNewswire) — In the aftermath of September 11, the three new watchwords for importers of consumer and industrial goods have become “contingency, contingency, and contingency.”

“It makes sense,” says supply-chain management expert Bill Villalon, “that importers and retailers of apparel, auto parts and other time-sensitive shipments need to be more focused than ever on ensuring time-definite delivery in today’s volatile, indefinite world.”

Importers are addressing this requirement by working with their logistics providers to develop contingency plans that include the ability to rapidly shift sourcing locations, routes, or modes of transportation, says Villalon. He is president of the Americas region of APL Logistics, a global supply-chain management provider based in Oakland, Calif.

“Companies are intent upon precluding the possibility of broken supply chains, such as the shutdown of airfreight service in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.”

Villalon, who was speaking to delegates at the Annual Textiles and Apparel Trade and Transportation Conference in New York on Oct. 24, cautioned that providing for rapid modal shifts or back-up sourcing options will in many cases involve adding new complexities to the supply chain.

“But this has become a reasonable price to pay, thanks to new Web-based visibility tools that can give importers and retailers a better picture of where their goods are at any moment, making management of the supply chain easier and more efficient,” he said. “Specifically, these new information technology (IT) tools make it possible to reroute or rehandle goods in response to rapidly changing market conditions, or to mitigate a military contingency or natural disaster.”

Villalon told conference attendees representing the American Import Shippers Association and the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, that one impact of Sept. 11 was to accelerate some trends that were already apparent.

For example, a number of global manufacturers and retailers serving North America, who outsource the management of their supply chains to his company, had already been looking for shorter, more flexible supply lines. “Some of those companies are now beginning to shift some of their sourcing to closer regions such as Central and South America,” he said.

Others are diverting some of their activities from Western Asia into China, where the business environment is expected to be more open following China’s planned accession to the World Trade Organization.

“But all of them we have talked to,” he said, “have an expanded commitment to flexibility. Fortunately, this is an achievable goal today, given the right interplay of IT tools and global logistics and transportation infrastructure.”