This is the second diary in a series on outsourcing. I decided to write the series to explore the mechanics, technologies and finer points of global supply chain operations and product quality. In this one, I examine some of the technical issues associated with inspection of products to find defects. A number of recent diaries have demanded inspections of foreign-sourced products, especially foodstuffs. Hopefully the material over the fold will be useful to those discussions.

And yes, I discuss melamine in pet food. If you are impatient, I suggest that you go to the bottom of the diary and read that section, then go back and read the first part to understand what the heck I was talking about.

Last Friday and over the weekend, we saw a telling example of just how dangerous the global information environment has become.

Friday afternoon, over a cold carbonated beverage at the neighborhood watering hole, my retired Army buddy said, "You heard the latest about Iran?"

"No," I said.  I hadn't been plugged into a news source for almost an hour, so I was behind the news cycle.  "What about Iran?"

"The UN found yellow cake in one of their nuclear facilities," he said.

Under the fold: well, not exactly...

We've read here and elsewhere about the neocon-engineered document drop; I doubt the dumpers were looking for what this AP reporter found:

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Exasperated, besieged by global pressure,
Saddam Hussein and top aides searched for ways in the 1990s to prove to the world they'd given up banned weapons.

"We don't have anything hidden!" the frustrated Iraqi president interjected at one meeting, transcripts show.

At another, in 1996, Saddam wondered whether U.N. inspectors would "roam
Iraq for 50 years" in a pointless hunt for weapons of mass destruction. "When is this going to end?" he asked.

More quotes and link below. Watch your step on the bump!