The specific paths you take to increase your supply chain resilience will depend on the results of your evaluation and analysis. That being said, there are a few of the main strategies that companies use to avoid being susceptible to various scenarios they might encounter.
Let’s explore them below.
Evaluate Your Processes
Technology is continually improving how the supply chain can be monitored, automated, and enhanced. For companies, that means that a process that may have been top of the line a few years ago has become outdated, exposing the company to unnecessary risk and making it harder to stay ahead of competitors.
A good first step is to reevaluate whether the supply chain management solution you’re using offers the range of features needed to mitigate risks and stay on top of changing conditions. For example, if you use a tool like ApparelMagic, you get a suite of resource planning, sales tracking, inventory, warehousing, and manufacturing features that will help enhance your supply chain and make it more resilient every step of the way.
Solutions like ApparelMagic can also dramatically improve your visibility, showing you relevant real-time data about your flow of goods, inventory, and order processing.
Reduce Reliance on Suppliers
One of the most common causes of supply chain disruptions is the supplier. If you don’t manufacture your products, you need to make sure that the supplier you’re using can withstand disruptions, or that you can find a replacement quickly in case they do.
If you do manufacture products yourself, you need to consider the resilience of your suppliers for materials, technologies, or labor. It’s a good idea to map out contingencies for various situations, setting up alternatives that you can plug into your supply chain and minimize downtime and loss of opportunity.
Develop Risk Management Processes
The most resilient supply chains don’t rely on old data when making assumptions about risks. Instead, they are always evolving based on the changing conditions and new risk assessments that dictate what needs to be prioritized.
You need to create a supply chain risk management framework that helps you continually reevaluate threats, their likelihood, and the plans for responding to various situations. Eventually, having this process will help you become much better at anticipating disruptions, getting ahead of potential threats, and developing processes that can help your supply chain withstand shocks in your industry or the global economy.
Become More Flexible
A rigid supply chain is not a resilient supply chain. When the processes and frameworks can’t be easily adjusted, they will be much more vulnerable to shifts in conditions, creating a chain reaction that will be very hard to control.
That’s why savvy leaders focus on creating flexibility in their supply chain on all levels. For example, you should try to negotiate flexibility on your warehousing contracts, maintaining the option to scale up or down depending on your needs and shifting conditions.
The same goes for transportation and order fulfillment. Develop a network that allows you to fulfill orders in multiple ways and through multiple providers, so that when one part of your transportation network breaks down you can find alternative solutions that maintain a good customer experience.
Bottom Line
Having a strong supply chain is essential for keeping your business resilient to shifts in the market or global events. And while it’s impossible to anticipate everything that could go wrong, there are ways to mitigate most of the risks and at least reduce the damage that they can cause.
By diversifying suppliers, maintaining thorough visibility of your entire supply chain, and continuously evaluating risks, you can build a supply chain that offers a competitive edge when it matters most.
For a robust solution offering visibility and automation across your supply chain, consider ApparelMagic. Schedule a demo today to get started!
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