We are so used to hearing of companies moving their manufacturing offshore that when a company decides to return their operations back to the US it makes headline news. In the latest move, Caterpillar is considering relocating some off its offshore heavy-equipment overseas production back to a new facility in the US. Analysts have named this new trend as onshoring and there is a growing number of US companies who are considering this option.

The drivers behind the onshoring trend include the rising price of imports, due a weaker dollar, and increasing disadvantages of offshore production. Companies are finding that offshore manufacturing is not as cost effective as it was, due to increasing shipping costs, complex supply chain structure and inconsistent vendor quality.

Caterpillar is not the only company interested in onshoring, General Electric reported that in 2011 they will move production of water heaters from China to its facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

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UK supermarket giant, Tesco, is currently operating trials to reduce their packaging of items to reduce their overall carbon emissions in the supply chain. The current trial is to use plastic bottles for its own-brand spirits range as well as introducing lightweight glass wine bottles. The company believes it has achieved an 86 percent reduction in its own-label packaging due to the switch to plastic. It is working with suppliers to cut the packaging of products on 4,000 projects.

The lightweight wine bottles are claimed to be the lightest ever which is the result of a project with waste reduction body, WRAP. The bottles are 30 percent lighter than the previous lightest own-label bottles which save 560 tonnes of glass annually. Tesco has an overall goal of a 30 percent reduction in the carbon impact of the products in their supply chain by 2020. It has also stated that it aims to become a zero-carbon business by 2050.

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Online computer parts retailer NewEgg confirmed that it has sold a number of Intel Core i7-920 CPUs that were counterfeit. The phony CPU's were supplied by a vendor from Freemont, California called IPEX Infotech. Initially the vendor told NewEgg that they had mistakenly shipped Intel demo units, but NewEgg have since reported that the Intel CPU's were totally counterfeit. As a result the company terminated their relationship with the supplier.

NewEgg are known in the industry as a reliable supplier of computer parts but this incident could tarnish that reputation. Management will be obviously aware that there are a multitude of online suppliers that their customers can turn to. An incidence of counterfeit products being received and then sold to customers could easily shake customer confidence. As a company's supply chain becomes more complex and they more remote from the actual manufacturer, the possibility of receiving counterfeit goods will increase.

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Wal-Mart has announced it is to make its supply chain greener by cutting 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2015. The company says this is the equivalent of removing more than 3.8 million cars from the road for a year. Wal-Mart estimates that 90 percent of the emissions originate from supply chain operations, while the remainder ten percent is from its stores.

Wal-Mart indicates that they will initially focus on sectors of the supply chain that will generate the most significant emissions reductions, as well as the greatest amount of cost savings. Apparel and food are likely to be targeted first as they consume large quantities of electricity. Wal-Mart will be working with the Environmental Defense Fund to produce a set of guidelines for suppliers so they can assess the extent of their greenhouse gas reductions. The carbon specialty consultancy, ClearCarbon, is working with Wal-Mart and its vendors to measure and verify the reduction of emissions in the supply chain.

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