About two years ago, I started collecting news about product recalls to use in a lecture on reverse logistics. Students do often know the stories and find it interesting to explore further the potential causes and consequences by using the vocabulary from the reverse logistics literature. I am surprised how fast the pile is growing.
Unfortunately, some of these product recalls become of personal interest for many of us (e.g. as parents). Take for example the two recalls Mattel (toy manufacturer) has had in only two weeks. One of the most recent one being Sarge (a car) from the Cars movie is now among the toys being recalled, according to this piece in today’s CNN. NYT has a similar story to tell
(and more stories from NYT here).
Frequency of product recalls aside, these recalls raise ethical and social concerns: It seems as if companies do not have much idea of what takes place in the up-stream operations of their supply chains.
This has caught the attention of other bloggers; one is Geek Dad, and this blogger here — Rick Klau — has established www.SaferToys.org to collect stories on product recalls that may be of interest for “…parents and concerned individuals to track the latest news regarding unsafe toys”. An interesting attempt to create more transparency about product recalls.
Árni
ps. Where on earth did I read something about customer orientation? 
5 responses so far ↓
Kyleigh // August 19, 2007 at 4:39 am |
hi i enjoyed the read
gyoengyi // October 31, 2007 at 8:28 pm |
Just found a link to “famous product recalls”: http://www.cio.com/article/148100
Enjoy the read!
Gyöngyi
The vulnerability of Christmas « Interorganisational - Supply Chain Management // November 6, 2007 at 7:14 pm |
[...] 6th, 2007 · No Comments After all our discussions about product recalls and toy safety, The Guardian just published an article of another type of potential vulnerabilities [...]
Demand management « Interorganisational - Supply Chain Management // December 2, 2007 at 3:44 pm |
[...] our toys from China are already well on their way. (Let’s just hope we won’t have to send them back.) But most people (not excluding myself) haven’t even thought of what to get as presents, [...]
gyoengyi // March 2, 2009 at 9:28 am |
China just passed a law on the use of additives in food production. Let’s hope this erases questions of food safety as a reason for product recalls.
Gyöngyi