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How Are You Dealing With These Supply Chain Trends? Featured

How Are You Dealing With These Supply Chain Trends? "Poker night"

COVID-19 has created a significant imbalance between the supply and demand of goods, affecting global supply chains. At the height of the pandemic and lockdowns, every part of the value chain was put under stress, from raw material sourcing to the end customer. Furthermore, areas like commercial, operational, financial and even organizational resilience were put under an unexpected test. The stress on the value chain during the COVID-19 period highlighted risks and gaps in the resilience of every company, including the bigger ones. As CEOs look to make things better to avoid large-scale disruptions in the future, some believe that innovation is the only route to resilience, while others believe that increasing investment in disruption detection will bear good fruits.

Regardless of the route you take, here are some solutions to trends that you need to watch so that you can deal with supply chain issues in the future.

  1. Driver retention

Drivers are important in a supply chain because they ensure products move from one place to the other. These individuals ensure that supply chains do not break down. Since trucking is the primary source of transportation of cargo, a shortage of trucking capacity will lead to containers sitting idle at the port. Without the movement of finished products and raw materials, goods cannot enter the inventory processes, and businesses will not sell. This means that customers and companies will suffer. As we enter a post-pandemic era, companies will begin investing more in driver retention and trucking to solve potential future problems observed during the pandemic.

  1. Supply chain localization

With the challenges that emerged from the pandemic, order fulfillment will become more localized. Companies will leverage various locations for order fulfillment to shorten the delivery times. Today’s consumers require everything they need to be available for fast fulfilment and at a reasonable price. This can only be made possible with the localization of fulfillment. With the highly charged competition in the market, fast delivery can be the key differentiator. This is the reason for the increasing same-day delivery offers by companies.

  1. Agile supply chains and advanced technologies

The supply chain management technology landscape is changing faster than anticipated. To keep up with the fast pace, your processes must be automated. Furthermore, systems and data need to be integrated, and workers must have new resources. On the other have, managers of supply chains must have the right information and better visibility. This means investing in advanced supply chain optimization platforms that provide all the above components. When reaching the systems with all the above attributes, focus on the needs of every decision-maker in the company and what can give the customer the best experience.

  1. Forecast the inventory and delivery needs

The last mile delivery volumes are increasing, and this is no surprise. However, how you prepare for peak season is what matters. Furthermore, the way they know what to expect regarding order demand, delivery, processing and dealing with inventory also matter. With many technologies available today, there is no need to run supply chains in the dark anymore. Instead, use the available supply chain management technology to forecast the inventory and the delivery of products requested by the customer. These technologies allow you to know exactly what to expect to deal with it before time. Technology allows you to increase visibility into the supply chain data like never before. Big data and predictive analytics are still untapped resources that can offer insights which will help anticipate or respond to happenings or disruptions. Insights and analytics can be leveraged to improve the supply chain.

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Scott Koegler

Scott Koegler is Executive Editor for PMG360. He is a technology writer and editor with 20+ years experience delivering high value content to readers and publishers. 

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