How to Build a Strong Supply Chain
Whether you’re buying products as a reseller, manufacturing with the help of raw material providers, or getting your own goods out as a wholesaler, there are few things that matter to the continuity of your business quite as much as your supply chain.
Here, we’re going to look at the steps you can take to ensure that each link in that chain is just as strong as it needs to be, and why it’s so important to focus on it.
Building a Strong Supply Chain
Make sure you can trust your partners.
When you’re looking at your partners, be they suppliers, fulfillment partners, wholesalers, or otherwise, the first thing you should focus on is regulatory compliance.
If the businesses you rely on aren’t compliant, then any legal trouble they hit can disrupt your business.
What’s more, they can even get you in some legal trouble if you are, for instance, being supplied with and selling products that aren’t meeting regulations.
Check where you should import/export from.
The cost-effectiveness of your supply chain matters a lot in keeping your business profitable.
As such, when you’re looking at suppliers and resellers, be sure to look at whether importing or exporting could help improve that cost-effectiveness.
Find the relevant data on your market, like these confectionery industry statistics. See that you’re building the overseas partnerships that can help you take your business to the next level.
Measure the reliability of your partners.
Bad supply chain relationships are the most common cause of supply chain weakness.
Effectively, you need to make sure you’re taking the time to research the key suppliers in the area. The best suppliers might be a little more costly to work with, to begin with, but at least they’re likely to be more reliable.
Furthermore, if you build good long-term relationships with suppliers, it’s likely that the price of working with them can decrease as they start to focus more on long-term profit with you, provided you prove to be reliable too.
Make it as traceable as possible.
What makes a good supplier, fulfillment partner, reseller, or any other kind of partner in your supply chain? Transparency is number one and it should be an asset that you both keep a lookout for and constantly encourage your partners to provide.
For instance, they should be willing to share the location of your goods with you through fleet GPS tools at all times.
This way, you can continuously track their performance, which is not only good for measuring efficiency, but for keeping your customers in the loop, too.
Reduce errors on your end as much as possible.
Supplier and fulfillment errors can happen, but so too can errors on your side.
Rather than using simple spreadsheet software to track each link in the chain, for instance, you should make sure you’re using supply chain specific tools to make sure you’re not prone to errors.
Any disruption in your supply chain will cause a disruption to your business.
Finding reliable partners, tracking the data of each link, and being prepared for hiccups can all help you ensure that chain remains strong regardless of what ripples come your way.
Optimizing Supply Chains for Complex Cargo
Complex cargo is very common, whether it’s oversized, heavy, high-value or made from a hazardous material. Optimizing supply chains that deal with these kinds of goods can be surprisingly tricky, but it’s by no means impossible. Let’s take a look at where you should start.
Custom-designed loading solutions.
When it comes to loading complex cargo, it’s important not to just take a bog standard approach. Whether you’re loading huge wind turbine blades or flammable lithium batteries, it’s vital that you use a loading solution that’s custom-designed to deal with that specific load.
Companies such as Joloda Hydraroll offer these kinds of services, providing a range of automated loading solutions that reduce the risks of accidents and damage. It’s worth consulting a few different providers, to make sure that you get an option that’s perfectly suited to your unique cargo requirements.
Route planning.
In some cases, you’ll also need to consider route planning when it comes to complex cargo. This especially applies to oversized good, where you may even need to test certain routes before attempting delivery to ensure no predictable complications arise.
It can also apply to other kinds of items. For example, if the cargo you’re transporting is highly perishable, you may want to avoid seemingly faster routes that could potentially become blocked with little notice.
All of these potential issues will need to be thought out ahead of time, and then avoided during the route planning process.
Avoiding LTL.
With complex cargo, it’s often the case that an unusually shaped item will be given much more space than is actually necessary due to the added complexity of fitting items around it. While this adoption of less-than-truckload (LTL) loading can be widespread, it is often also unnecessarily inefficient.
If these kinds of complex cargo items are something that you regularly have to deal with, then it’s worth taking the time to pack them in with other items. Of course, this won’t always be possible, but with a bit of forward planning, you should be able to ensure that all your trucks are fully and optimally packed.
Ensuring regulatory compliance.
It’s important to note that in some cases, inefficiencies will simply be a regulatory necessity. Whether it’s a weight limit on loads of certain kinds of volatile materials, or space limits on other items, it’s important to keep these limitations in mind when trying to think of corners to cut. You don’t want to find a solution that seems attractive, only to get hit with a hefty fine – or worse.
With complex cargo, optimizing your supply chain management will be an ongoing process. It’s important to keep on the lookout for new technologies that could make things easier and improve efficiency, so that you don’t miss out on any game-changers.
How Demand Planning Can Improve Supply Chain
Companies are constantly looking for ways to maximize profits. The supply chain needs to be efficient for high business profits. An accurate demand forecast ensures the supply chains, inventory, and revenues are efficient.
Demand planning software helps in analyzing data metrics essential in demand predictions. This article describes how demand planning improves the supply chain and its aspects.
Demand planning includes three primary aspects including;
Product Portfolio
The product portfolio management oversees an overall good life cycle. It begins when a company introduces a new product in the market and concludes with end-of-life planning for the product.
Product lines can be interdependent. Understand overall product management to increase market share.
Statistical Forecasting
Historical data helps in creating statistical forecasts. Determining the accuracy of statistical models, identifying outliers, and understanding assumptions are essential.
Seasonal shifts and boosts in yard sales can be accessed using statistical forecasting.
Trade Promotion
Marketing events impact demand for products in the retail sector. The vision of the campaign is to connect brands with customers. In-store giveaways, promotions, and discount events influence demand for goods.
Benefits of Demand Planning
When products run out of stock, companies lose revenue. Customers can shift to other stores with a constant supply of products. On the flip side, unused inventory accrues production and storage costs. Demand planning helps business owners make proactive decisions and respond to customer needs.
The advantages of demand planning include:
Improving Forecasting Accuracy
The process of coming up with accurate forecasts can be challenging. Demand planning relies on this aspect to increase revenues.
Predictions help in knowing the number of products is needed by customers. Adjusting the forecast results keeps on improving their accuracy.
Managing Inventory
Demand planning helps in managing and aligning inventory amounts with changes in demand. Business owners incorporate demand predictions with actual signals to stock the right amount of products.
Proper inventory management ensures companies have enough raw materials and goods to sell in high-demand periods. The companies don’t run out of stock and don’t hold slow-moving items for long.
Improving Production Scheduling
When businesses forecast sales, manufacturers can plan for the products’ production schedules, warehouse, and shipping.
Planning saves costs. Optimizing production schedules around downtime can prevent unexpected machine breakdowns.
For instance, you can use a capacity plan to determine the best period to conduct regular and mandatory maintenance of machines.
Optimizing Labor Scheduling
Labor costs cover the most significant expense for manufacturers. Knowing the exact number of employees, you’ll need incomplete orders on time will allow you to hire only when necessary.
Few employees in high-demand seasons will cause your business to experience decreased fulfillment time, and the daily order completing rate will be lower. Hiring excess employees will be costly.
When inventory management, predictions, and labor/production scheduling are more accurate, your business will be able to determine the number of employees essential in the timely completion of orders.
The supply chain efficiency depends on accurate demand forecasting. Meeting customers’ demand efficiently increases revenue for businesses. Hire demand planners to carry out the forecasting process for your company.