Threats to your supply chain can come from natural disasters, product shortages, unpredictable markets, rising fuel costs, and the list goes on. How well your supply chain can bounce back from disruption is what’s known as supply chain resilience. At Taylored Services, we are supply chain experts and wanted to offer five ways you can build and maintain a supply chain resilience strategy within your organization.
Hire the Right People.
Your company needs to be sufficiently staffed to get work done, but your workers should also be equipped with the skills and knowledge to tackle challenging threats to your supply chain. Scout for engineers, procurement specialists, and supply chain managers who can remain calm under pressure and successfully navigate challenging business environments. You also want people familiar with your business and market and industry trends, so you can stay abreast of the latest developments and make sure you remain in step with the pace of business. Believe it or not, you’re likely to find workers with the necessary skills within the millennial generation. They’re tenacious, solutions-focused, tech-savvy, and ready to work.
Embrace Redundancy.
Redundancy usually has a negative connotation, but not when you’re talking about supply chain resilience. You want redundancies throughout your supply chain. Examples of redundancy may include:
- Holding extra inventory.
- Working with several suppliers.
- Maintaining low capacity utilization.
- Overstaffing at various points throughout the year, like the holiday selling season.
This can all provide some breathing room and allow you to continue operating after a disruption. The downside is that maintaining redundancies in the long term can be expensive and get in the way of running a lean, efficient organization.
Adopt Standardized Processes.
Do everything the same way as much as possible. Use interchangeable and generic parts in products, rely on similar or even identical plant designs, standardize workflow across the organization, and cross-train all employees. This enables your company to respond quickly to disruption by reallocating resources to where the need is greatest without having to re-tool or re-train.
Invest in Technology.
The role of technology in establishing supply chain resiliency can’t be overlooked. Cloud-based systems are beneficial because cloud systems can be replicated in multiple locations around the globe, so if one site goes down, traffic is automatically routed to the next available one. This means your data is protected, and goods can keep flowing through your supply chain—even in the case of disruption. Plus, you’ll get fast access to backups in the event of data loss.
Establish the Right Corporate Culture.
Establishing the right culture within your company is a critical component of supply chain resilience. For example, you want to communicate regularly so everyone—from executives to management to hands-on workers—knows the business’s strategic goals, tactics, and day-to-day status. So, when disruption hits, employees can make more informed decisions to bring the supply chain back online. You want those “close to the action” to feel empowered to take action as soon as they know something is wrong. They often know before management, and they can respond quickly, thereby containing a disruption before it develops into something much bigger.
Resilience Enhances Competitiveness
The rewards for building a resilient supply chain are substantial. The resilient supply chain will withstand supply shortages, respond more quickly to market changes, and maintain an edge over their competition. Most importantly, you can continue delivering the highest quality products and services to meet your customers’ rapidly changing needs.
Taylored Services is a fully integrated third-party logistics provider specializing in wholesale, retail, and direct-to-consumer unit fulfillment. Headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, they operate 1.5 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space strategically near the nation’s busiest ports, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York. Since its humble beginnings in 1992, Taylored Services has become a national leader in distribution, fulfillment, and warehousing.