COVID-19 has forced many countries and organisations, to rethink and transform their global supply chain models, for short term survival.
It is mission critical that Australia strengthens its supply chain links with other countries, such as Europe, Japan, USA, and other nations. There will be many political hurdles, significant costs, and it could take decades to unravel the web we have developed.
There are certain steps as an organisation you can be doing to strengthen your supply chain position and start to limit some of the risks you face.
Looking forward, we may need to first step back. After decades of focus on supply chain optimization to minimize costs, reduce inventories, and drive up asset utilisation has removed buffers and flexibility to absorb disruptions.
New supply chain technologies are emerging that dramatically improve visibility across the end-to-end supply chain, and support companies’ ability to resist such shocks. The traditional linear supply chain model is transforming into digital supply networks (DSNs), where functional silos are broken down and organizations become connected to their complete supply network to enable end-to-end visibility, collaboration, agility, and optimization.
There will not be one simple answer in such a complicated environment, no doubt it will entail all aspects of the above, possibly even accepting that costs may have to increase to ensure future supply. One thing is for sure all organisations must make their supply chains a critical aspect to get right in the future.
Gary Silversides; CEO
Related content: supply chain software