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Can You Work Around Supply Chain Problems? Featured

Can You Work Around Supply Chain Problems? "Globe Map"

Labor shortage, transportation and commodities remain the biggest challenges for supply chains. In response to these challenges, suppliers and retailers are adopting new methods to move goods in different ways, such as cargo liners, trains, and trucks provided by the competitors. Although these are just a few ways you can solve the problems in supply chains, there are other options that you may need to enforce complex solutions for the existing challenges. Lack of a concrete strategy to avail the products in the market at the right time will cause problems.

 

Adapting to the changing conditions

The past two years have shown how vulnerable the supply chain is. It has emerged that conditions such as pandemics and disasters can reset everything. This shows the importance of flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. To enhance adaptability, suppliers are shifting their limited production capacity to items that sell faster, cancelling promotions for some products and imposing allocations. With the challenges in the supply chain, the biggest retailers, including those that retail holiday decorations, furniture, toys and appliances, are encountering problems transporting items across the seas, which takes about 80 days.

Avoid confusion

Serious, big-name retailers are trying their best to avoid last-mile confusion caused by massive orders that affect delivery. Retailers such as Amazon and Walmart provide logistics capabilities to competitors through multi-channel fulfillment, providing packing and delivery services to eCommerce sellers and other approaches. For the apparel industry, the retailers are trying to navigate an increasing number of factory shutdowns, transit times and rising costs, which are some of the biggest challenges currently.

Solve cyber attacks

Cyber attacks are becoming a menace to many industries and organizations. They can happen to anyone at any time and anywhere if the systems are not protected adequately. Supply chains can also open you up for dangerous attacks on you and others. If there is any lax, hackers may capitalize on it to access the systems and steal valuable data or assets. The chance of your supply chain being disrupted by cyberattacks or opening you up for attacks make it necessary for you to secure it. Avoid this problem by having solid communication and relationships with all the links in the chain of supply and knowing where vulnerabilities might come from.

Price fluctuations

Changes in product prices are a norm in the supply chain industry. However, such occurrences create disruptions because you must decide whether to switch suppliers, increase prices, or accept reduced profits yourself. These fluctuations can be caused by factors like an increase in oil prices, which is known for its volatility and causes financial overheads in manufacturing and transportation.

Product issues

Quality management is connected with supply chain management. Therefore, issues with products can have a significant problem in the supply chain. It can lead to problems such as delays in delivering a final product or issues with the customer. No business wants to deliver low-quality merchandise to the customer or have customer products delayed because of faults. Therefore, a proper quality management system with customer expectations in mind and proper communication with suppliers is key to solving these problems.

Although delays can happen in some instances, supply chain disruptions can make things worse. Natural disasters have proven to be a challenge. For example, in case of a natural disaster, transportation and trade routes can be affected, leading to delays in product delivery. In case of a pandemic, a problem might arise from measures such as lockdowns and social distancing meant to minimize spread. All these make it hard for freight carriers to deliver goods through any means.

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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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