The pandemic COVID-19 has impacted all sectors equally. In business world, the uncertainties due to COVID have made supply chain sector highly vulnerable because of non-flexibility of existing model. In order to accommodate such drastic changes, the supply chains must be flexible, responsive and resilient so that the supply and demand of items remains operational.
A resilient supply chain model benefits your business in terms of social changes and economic fluctuations. By vigilant monitoring of supplier and the flow of goods, not only the continuous supply can be ensured, but it can also help in reduced costs and increased sales. This article entails five things you must have for building resilient supply chain.
1. Digitize operational processes
Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence have revolutionized supply chain models. The current supply chain trends are indicated by artificial intelligence, which help shape supply chain processes. With the help of AI automation, new supply chain processes can be introduced. AI can help greatly in improving sales and business overall.
The cost of automating supply chain process becomes less of a concern when we look at the benefits of digitizing processes. Digital practices make your system efficient and performance-driven, which benefits in the short as well as long run. With the help of AI, machine learning and digitizing operational processes you can have access to abundant real-time data which can be used for making production-related decisions.
In order to improve your supply chain model and make it a resilient supply chain, digitizing as many processes as possible. This will bring more credibility and end-to-end transparency in your model because of having complete access to reliable data. Digitization can lead to improved visibility and full supply chain control.
2. Contingency Planning
With the new development of ‘work from home’, the supply chain organization is becoming more and more distributed. With the help of a crisis management team, you can have a backup team ready to deal with disaster like situations. This team should be fully capable to operate cross-functionally, so that the supply chain system does not collapse in an event of contingency. They should have access to the necessary technology so that they can respond effectively for a resilient supply chain.
The crisis management team should remain in contact with all stakeholders such as suppliers and distributors, on a regular basis. A continuous update about internal supply chain functions will help minimize non-productive activities.
3. Develop a risk management process
You can have a resilient supply chain by developing a risk management process for every supply chain node. In order to develop an efficient process, you need to manage supply chain risks through proper identification and documentation of risks. There has to be a proper mechanism of mapping out and assessing the value chains of products. Details about all involved parties such as suppliers, warehouses, plants, and transport logistics systems, must be assessed to incorporate all factors in devising a mechanism.
Using a reliable and consistent method of scoring, you can assess all the supply chain risks, and hence monitor and control risks which have the potential to damage your business.
4. Revamp purchasing process
By introducing digital purchase technology, you can benefit from the social networks influence of suppliers. However in order to pick suppliers, their social network following should not be the only reason. You need to consider the geographical distance between your business and suppliers. If a supplier with huge following is located at a great distance, it can lead to compliance and governance concerns.
5. A centralized management system
For resilient supply chain, it is important to monitor productivity tools such as emails and spreadsheets. Since sensitive information about supply chain can be accessed only by a few people at a time, therefore there must a responsible entity to keep the record for accountability. This is to prevent information from being sent to unauthorized or irrelevant persons.
A centralized management system keeps record of every event for the purpose of accountability. Once you know the root of a problem, or the source of an issue, you can resolve it faster and in an effective manner. A centralized system also ensures that all employees in a business have updated information of the system, and they are on-board during decision-making processes.
You can identify supply chain risks and weak links easily with the help of a centralized system. Due to such transparency, you can get fix an issue before even it rises.
Conclusion
It is a fact that building a resilient supply chain model takes time, effort and money. However, with the help of few measures, you can build a supply chain process which does not collapse in an event of disaster or calamity. With the help of advanced technologies, you can lower the disruption of supply chain processes. Agilea US helps you build robust and resilient supply chain processes by inculcating technology, so that your business does not suffer in case of crises.