According to The New York Times, “The [Coronavirus] pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain,” from manufacturing to delivery.
It all started in 2020 in places like China, where the manufacturing capacity is large, but the pandemic hit hard. Factories quickly reduced production and some even had to shut down. “IN response, shipping companies cut their schedules in anticipation of a drop in demand for moving goods around the world.”
Though demand fell for some things, it skyrocketed in items for American homes, “which were suddenly doubling as offices and classrooms.” The demand came in fast and high. Factories started to produce more to fulfill the orders, but the finished products piled up in warehouses due to the shipping containers shortage.
Not only was the pandemic a cause of the Supply Chain crisis, but companies have kept lean inventories to limit costs for decades. Experts suspect that the shortage will not end anytime soon, so investing in your Supply Chain process can be a key step to stand out from the rest.
Struggling to keep up with inventory as bottleneck continue to pop up in your Supply Chain? If there is anything we can learn from the California port, it is that the problem is too complex for just one solution. It takes a unique perspective and a different way of thinking to solve.
Adroit can help you if your organization is having any of these below symptoms or issues.
- Your Supply Chain problems are too complex to develop a plan and solution.
- Your team is not leveraging the tools they have in front of them, such as your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) technologies.
- Your organization suffers from a high turnover rate or labor shortages.
Ask yourself these key questions.
- Are you suffering from siloed thinking and big world problems?
- Are you taking everything into excel and impeding collaboration?
- Are you being ghosted on interviews and follow-ups during the recruitment process?
Case Study
Luckily, Adroit is well-versed in being the answer to the above questions and more. A current client of ours was seeing some very similar issues when they approached us. We took a deep dive and did a root cause analysis. Leveraging the data and analytics within their Aptean Food & Beverage ERP, we were able to get answers quickly. We found their shipping costs rose 500%, on-time delivery dropped, and stock-outs skyrocketed.
We quickly mapped out the pain points and allowed the client to leverage our veteran Food Supply Chain Professionals to implement and deliver solutions. These solutions included finding alternative 3PLs to ensure rates continued to be competitive, forming alternate routes via rail to mitigate ocean freight risk, developing a decision matrix for when to leverage air freight, and building an improved inventory carrying strategy.
This client saw improvements in weeks to months, not quarters and years. Leveraging and partnering with a valuable ERP allowed us to ensure we were making progress on the right measures. We reduced their monthly shipping costs by 15%, improved their on-time delivery, reduced customer complaints, and reduced unplanned expedites by almost 90%. With Adroit’s Planning as a Service offering, our veteran Supply Chain professionals can get to work immediately in a flexible weekly retainer or full time. Are you ready to start driving improvements in your business?
Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/business/shortages-supply-chain.html
