One of our most popular posts ever covered the five most pressing supply chain concerns, as we see them from our perspective. Many of the same difficulties are still big concerns for the supply chain today. However, with breakthroughs in data analytics, technology, and astute logistical brains, the choices for overcoming these problems have shifted the game once more.
Here’s how to recognize and overcome these challenges using all the new technology and information available to you.
Supply chain managers continue to face increasing problems in developing and maintaining efficient, effective Supply Chain Risk Management. These issues have grown faster than we could have predicted back then. The demands on supply networks are significantly more intense, necessitating a sound strategy and continual monitoring for weak links.
1. Communication
Maintaining open communication between external partners and internal systems can be difficult, especially for firms with complicated supply chains involving numerous stakeholders. Communicating and coordinating with partners, such as suppliers, can assist firms detect any impending shortages or problems while there is still time to work around them and ensure supply continuity.
Internal operations can also benefit from excellent communication, as segregated procedures may contain unneeded redundancies or inefficiencies that can be eliminated by having a comprehensive picture of the supply chain. For example, procurement and manufacturing operations’ quality control procedures may overlap, wasting time and resources on redundant checks. Transparent communication can help to reduce inefficiencies and streamline the supply chain, allowing goods to be delivered faster without sacrificing quality.
2. Customer Service
Customer service remains the cornerstone of supply chain management. It’s all about delivering the right amount of the right goods to the right place at the right time. Doesn’t it seem simple? It is not simple at all. Every customer has unique wants. We no longer live in a world of mass-produced goods and services. We live in the era of consumer personalization. This transition has an impact on manufacturing and, as a result, the logistics of delivering these products to customers.
With these improvements, successful customer service relies on information. Rather, it is dependent on the availability of information. It is critical to be able to deliver as much data as possible to the client to make decisions and explain shifts and changes in the supply chain before they become problems.
Whether it’s access to a portal or API connectivity, technology serves as the cornerstone for providing this information to your clients. Companies that accept and invest in these new technologies provide excellent customer service.
3. Planning and Risk Management
Market developments, such as new product launches, global sourcing, political agendas, credit availability, and customer demand, can all lead to serious challenges, and they can come from practically any direction. Periodic assessments and redesigns are required to ensure that efficiency and effectiveness remain optimal.
To minimize and mitigate these risks, they must first be identified and assessed. Creating a Supply Chain Risk Management plan for how your organization will handle and overcome potential large supply chain disruptions will help your operations recover quickly.
Talent
It’s becoming more difficult to locate qualified, engaged candidates. Supply chain executives must have a thorough awareness of the essential competencies and responsibilities required for supply chain management positions. They must can efficiently source certain skill sets and strategies for creating future leaders.
Finding this type of skill, as well as warehouse talent, is getting increasingly challenging. Consequently, the market worth of these professionals is increasing. We’re also witnessing a change away from the traditional approach, which was to simply put bodies in the warehouse to handle things as a cost-cutting measure.
This technique appears to be cost-effective on paper, but the impact is significant and far-reaching, particularly in terms of costs. Quality talent outperforms quantity, and you may have to pay over-market rates to get the talent you require. It costs more for businesses, but it pays off in the end.
4. Supply Chain Risk Management
The capacity to locate and follow the movement of individual components from raw materials and individual parts to finished goods as they are supplied to suppliers and consumers is referred to as supply chain visibility. A high level of visibility allows the company to know when things will arrive and when they will be ready to go to the next step. During the pandemic, all-too-real examples of supply chain visibility included shortages of personal protective equipment and ventilators for COVID-19 patients, as well as initial distribution issues with vaccines.
To improve supply chain visibility, first, examine your present Supply Chain Risk Management and identify the areas where bottlenecks exist. Prioritize solutions for these issues depending on what is most crucial to achieving the company’s goals and objectives. Eliminate compartmentalized technology systems that do not perform well together, and instead install full-featured supply chain management software.
5. Supply Chain Fragmentation
Supply chain fragmentation occurs when the supply chain is divided across several suppliers and manufacturers. While this may provide some cost or quality advantages, managing the supply chain can be difficult. Apple’s iPhone may be constructed in China using components manufactured in facilities throughout the world. Motor cars can be constructed in different countries, with parts shipped just in time from numerous manufacturers.
Once again, the pandemic demonstrated how unstable the fractured supply chain risk management can be when factories in one nation are closed or borders are entirely closed, prohibiting the transportation of necessary parts.
The most effective strategy for solving the issues of supply chain fragmentation is to improve data management. Eliminate isolated systems that can’t communicate with each other. Actively hunt for supply chain interruptions and assess their potential impact on your business. Using predictive analysis, choose the optimal course of action based on the given facts.
Also Read:- Tips to Choose the Right Facility for Your Supply Chain Needs
Conclusion
While individual risks and their consequences may change over time, having a strategy is always necessary. Often, this entails using a prioritization framework–a flexible but well-defined approach to Supply Chain Risk Management that allows you to examine probable outcomes and solve them accordingly. This strategy should be tailored to the risk types that have the greatest impact on your organization’s performance and objectives; these values may shift over time, but they should always be related to specific risk management goals.
Equally crucial is realizing that not all supply chains or sector actors have the same risk tolerance or priority. This means two things: first, you don’t have to base your approach on your peers’; second, you may discover that your needs contradict with those of a certain supply chain partner, causing friction. When you’re aware of this potential, you can take precautions to avoid delays or interruptions while still meeting your demands.
