Post COVID-19 Supply Chain Overview

As Covid-19 continues to cause significant disruption in global supply chains, the eventual effect remains unclear. Suppliers in Asia were the first to shut down production, with procurement and supply chain operations immediately hit.

Supply Base Resilience

 COVID-19 has uncovered weaknesses in many organisation’s supply chains. Organisations must now review the global footprint of their supply base to avoid supply-side risk from one geography. The virus has shown that organisations that have developed and introduced supply chain risk management as part of their supplier relationship management (SRM) framework, are better prepared to mitigate the business impact.

At Ligentia we believe it is vital to implement risk assessments into your supplier relationship management strategy and develop business continuity plans. They should not just cover the ongoing review of global supply base setup in terms of geography but also economic and political risk analysis of the countries in which your suppliers are located. It is wise that companies multi-source strategic commodities or key components to decrease the dependence on a single supplier. Supply chain and procurement teams should analyse their spend and reduce the reliability on one supplier and location.

A new approach to Inventory Management

 Procurement and supply chain teams should review their material and develop an increased amount of distinguished strategies for each sub-group of materials. Lots of companies have struggled significantly from the lack of supply of low-value critical items, such as the expensive PPE equipment like mouth and nose masks. Organisations should include low value items into their planning as ‘strategic goods’ as they can’t be produced without them. 

Just-in-time delivery has also become a key area of focus for supply chain decision-makers. Due to the recent disruptions because of the crisis, an adjustment to today’s reality is necessary to increase reliability.

Re-evaluate Contract Structures

Due to the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, many contracts have included a force majeure which allows for such a disruption. There are several key commitments that companies should require from suppliers during the disruption:

• How are we dealing with short-term changes?
• How can we ensure supply safety and supply priority?
• What if prices are changing rapidly?
• What happens if volumes are committed?
• How are business risks shared?

Treat your Logistics Providers as Partners

It is also important to evaluate your logistic setup. Due to the substantial decrease in global air traffic, it led to a reduction in air freight capacity, which affected many global organisations that rely on just-in-time delivery models. This caused delays in production because of missing critical items and, more importantly, increased congestion at major ports globally.

At Ligentia we pride ourselves on the long-term relationships we have in place with our customers. We work tirelessly to keep them informed of change and most importantly work hard to find solutions quickly to ongoing challenges.

Digitalise your Supply Chain

It remains vital that organisations can increase the visibility of their supply chain once production resumes at full capacity. Organisations should focus on Tier 1 suppliers to help their organisation to understand the supplier’s flexibility to shift and change production at a moment’s notice. It is also key to ensure visibility further down the supply chain on Tier 2 and 3 suppliers because their performance impacts your supplier’s capability to complete orders.

Ligentix, our proprietary software, has the capacity to provide real-time data and full visibility of supply chain operations, meaning Ligentia customers are better informed and able to make decisions based on up to date information.

To start discussing specific planning that develops a more responsive and agile supply chain get in touch with our supply chain experts today.