Apple’s mojo is important to us all

It’s a claim that has caused shock-waves around the hi-tech world: “Apple has lost its supply chain mojo”.

The claim comes from US business information company Bloomberg, which reports that problems with the supply of OLED screens is disrupting production of the new iPhone X.

I suspect that there will be a certain amount of schadenfreude in supply chain circles at the revelation. Apple is always held up as the exemplar of supply chain excellence that everyone else should aspire to, so it is rather comforting to find that it is actually as human as the rest of us.

Bloomberg analyst Tim Culpan reckons Apple always knew that supply of the new OLED screens would be tight but miscalculated exactly how tight. He suggests that this might call into question Apple’s ability to keep a grip on its supply chain – its mojo.

The chances are of course that this is a mere blip – and that is certainly the way America’s investor community is viewing the development at the moment.

But it highlights the impact that supply chain choices now have on the success or failure of even the largest enterprises.

Apple is not the only organisation that has to make marginal supply chain decisions – and the fact that it appears to have run into problems with this one will motivate others to look again at the marginal decisions they have been taking in their supply chain operations.

And that could have implications for the way global supply chains are managed in the future – that’s how important Apple’s mojo is to us all.