SDCExec.com |

New York — December 9, 2008 — Panjiva, an objective information source on global suppliers, today released an analysis that highlights the impact of the economic downturn on global suppliers.

Panjiva's analysis of the apparel industry in the second half of the 2008 reveals such statistics as:

• The number of suppliers actively serving the U.S. market dropped over 70 percent in just three months; from 22,099 suppliers in July to 6,262 suppliers in October.
• Of those factories still active in October, 40 percent are now on the Panjiva Watch List as a result of suffering a year-over-year drop of 75 percent or more in volume shipped to U.S. customers.
• The Panjiva Pain Index, a measure of the risk present in the global supply chain, stood at 43 at the end of October, up from 24 at the end of July.

According to Panjiva CEO Josh Green, "These numbers paint a frightening picture of the state of the world's suppliers. U.S. companies that maintain their customer base through the economic downturn may nevertheless find their survival threatened by the disappearance of their supplier base."

According to Aberdeen Research's July 2008 survey and report on Supply Chain Risk Management, 58 percent of companies surveyed "suffered financial loss because of supply chain disruptions." To help companies identify supply chain risk before it turns into supply chain disruption, Panjiva has launched Panjiva Alerts, a set of tools that provide companies with unprecedented visibility into the health of their suppliers.

By tracking shipments from suppliers, Panjiva said it can provide companies with an Alert when one of their overseas suppliers moves onto the Panjiva Watch List as a result of suffering a year-over-year drop of 75 percent in volume shipped to U.S. customers or lands a significant new customer, thereby threatening others' ability to get needed capacity, for instance.

As buyers seek to develop back-up plans for their unhealthy suppliers and find new, healthy suppliers, Panjiva said it has also launched a new, upgraded version of its supplier search tool. Using technology developed by a team of MIT scientists, Panjiva can tell organizations "who is working with whom," enabling buyers to create targeted lists of potential suppliers based on recent and relevant experience working with other buyers.

Panjiva said its Pain Index is a calculated by averaging two numbers: the percentage of suppliers previously considered "active" that became "inactive" in the last month, and the percentage of "active" suppliers that are on the Panjiva Watch List as a result of suffering a year-over-year drop of 75 percent or more in volume shipped to U.S. customers. Suppliers are considered active if they have shipped to an American customer within the previous three months.