Supply Chain Research

Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is struggling to deliver on its three-fold rise in orders in America over the past year in part due to a shortage of parts. It has therefore had to draw on its global supply chain more aggressively, shown by a 34% rise in U.S. seaborne imports on a year earlier in the three months to April 30. A 43% surge in imports from China may have been linked to concerns about the imposition of duties by the Trump administration, the risk of which should now dissipate. Its largest import lines include handling equipment parts from Japan and China (7% a...