The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t just been hard on people. Supply chains everywhere are struggling.
Shortages of masks have made headline news. Meat processing facilities around the country have closed, causing grocery stores and restaurants to run low. Across the business world, companies are having trouble getting the goods they need to operate.
The good news is, shortages also present opportunities. You may not see weak spots in your supply chain until a shipment is late, or the cost of something you take for granted, like paper or ink, skyrockets.
Seize the silver linings of this crisis. To shore up your supply chain:
1. Map it Out
In our globalized world, supply chains are complex. The first step to strengthening yours is to understand its full scope.
You know your first-tier suppliers, but what about those down the line? How would your company be impacted if a second- or third-tier supplier shut its doors? Does that first-tier supplier have backups?
Beware that vendors may not tell the truth about their own suppliers. The reason is that they don’t want to show weakness. If customers worry about their ability to deliver, they may take their business elsewhere.
Supply chain security and simplicity are popular reasons companies work with group purchasing organizations like Una. A direct purchasing strategy is simply too complex for all but the biggest procurement teams. Plus, GPOs always have backups in case a supplier of a certain good goes bust.
2. Avoid…
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