AVNET, INC. Industry experts focus on reshaping supply chains for a more sustainable future.
Over the past year, we have seen the supply chain take some sharp turns. Thanks to these disruptions, the value of a resilient and adaptable supply chain has never been clearer. Because it bridges the gap between design and delivery, a strong supply chain encompasses manufacturing, production, logistics, inventory, transportation, and finances. A disruption in any of these areas can have far reaching implications. While traditional supply chain models have focused on lowering cost and increasing efficiencies, the COVID-19 pandemic changed all that.
Global businesses are now looking for new ways to add resiliency and adaptability to their strategies to successfully navigate future disruptions. But ultimately, the pandemic only heighted the need to re-engineer current supply chain models on a universal scale. So, we sat down with a group of senior supply chain professionals to discuss what they've learned and how we can apply those lessons to future disruptions. According to Lynn Torrel, Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Officer at Flex, Jo Guedes, Senior Supply Chain Business Architect at Intel and David Paulson, Global Vice President for Avnet United and Velocity, here are the major areas business leaders need to focus on going into 2022:
- Management and leadership in the supply chain need to take time to focus on a strategic reset:Companies today must ensure there is strategic collaboration taking place all along the supply chain to ensure they are truly prepared for potential disruptions. "You can take advantage of disruptions by reacting faster and being a more secure source of supply than your competitors," said Jo. "That becomes a strategic advantage. It requires that vision and real corporate leadership at the CEO level to be able to prioritize that. You have to see beyond the current issues and understand that there is an opportunity." This exercise can be carried out regularly by taking a moment to pause and reflect after disruptions impact the business, outlining what went wrong and identifying opportunities to improve the company's readiness plan.
- Have a reactive plan and a proactive plan: A strategy is only as successful as its execution, which relies on a solid plan. By recognizing the difference between reactive and proactive planning, companies can be more prepared. "Today's supply chain disruptions are going to last for another 12 to 18 months, so it is important to take that time to have very intentional discussions about how we can manage this new level of activity, what we can do more efficiently and how we can be a better partner to our suppliers to work collaboratively with them," said Lynn. "You have to intentionally step away from the day-to-day activities and focus on those areas to be more strategic going forward." With a potential disruption in the horizon, understanding the difference between a knee jerk reaction and a solidified plan can be all the difference in providing agility and visibility to your customers and suppliers in critical times. A proactive plan is now a competitive advantage.
- Harness available data in periods of constraints and scale an improved way of forecasting future opportunities: "Where we sit today in terms of the maturity and digitization of the supply chain, I think there is an opportunity to harness data in this period of constraint," explained David. "I'm seeing more and more companies harness data as a core tenet of their learning process. It's critical that we turn that data into information to really better predict the future." Companies can use available digital tools such as forecasting analytics and consistent reporting to take charge in a high stakes supply chain environment.
As companies make that shift from supply chain strategies that are focused on cost-efficiency to ones that allow for more resiliency and adaptability, supply chains will feel like less of a gamble and more like a strategic advantage for their business.
Listen to Distributing Wisdom for more insights from Lynn, Jo and David and other distribution industry leaders.
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Avnet Inc. published this content on 13 January 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 13 January 2022 15:20:00 UTC.
