Global Supply Chain Disruptions: Evolving with the Changing Paradigms

A new world is unfolding in the global supply chain universe. What was thought to be the time for the recovery of the supply chains continues to pose new challenges. With sanctions against Russia, the invasion of Ukraine, followed by the US-China trade war in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters, supply chain management has always remained volatile.

Corporations are focusing on developing technological sovereignty. More plants are being developed, in several locations, and by outsourcing parts and materials from a wider range of suppliers, the global supply chains are beginning to resemble supply webs. According to Nathan Resnik, President and Co-Founder of Sourcify, this evolution from supply chains to supply webs is referred to as “multiple sourcing.” In addition, Gartner also adds to the situation, in a survey of supply chiefs, stating that

30% of respondents shifted their focus from a global to a regionally based supply chain model.

(Source: Gartner, 2021)

This shift from global to regional supply chain models underway could lead to the migration of jobs, demand surges, and production worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decades. In such a context, companies are turning to comprehensive efforts to strengthen their supply chains for future challenges.

How to get started?

Such objectives require huge transformative efforts in data transparency, AI technologies, the cloud, automated data-driven decision-making, headless commerce, and multi-sourcing service integrations. All that is necessary to break through the barriers and develop a robust supply chain.

Embrace digital ecosystems:

As a one-size-fits-all strategy is no longer viable, the supply chain industry requires major investments in modernized supply chain management technologies. One of the optimal solutions is to bring multiple channels under a single roof. This will empower businesses with a digital ecosystem, that negates data silos while promoting supply chain transparency. When all partners are connected, this ensures more checkpoints, faster response times, and process efficiency, enabling a better understanding of the market demand.

Henkel, a Germany-based consumer goods firm, was able to leverage this strategy by integrating various channels into one. The firm leveraged a cloud platform that enabled them to make real-time assessments and supply tracking. After connecting 33 of their factories across the globe, they were able to get real-time insights into inventory levels, vehicle logistics, and consumer preferences.

Invest in data transparency:

Consistent, predictive, and actionable analytics are at the heart of end-to-end supply chain visibility. Supply chain companies can challenge the industry disruptions by combining MPS, ERP, SRM, and supplier data. This will empower them with real-time access to information across all platforms for better evaluations and informed decisions across the value chain.

Strengthen your synchronization capabilities:

Data synchronization enforces supply chain transparency, so both go hand-in-hand. When digitally synchronized, supply chain companies can strengthen their ability to estimate risks and optimize inventories while meeting customer demands without waste. Such transformative efforts can not only help you proactively identify vulnerabilities but also lower redundancy, generate faster lead times, enhance communication, and give a crystal-clear picture of your entire sourcing system.

Save time with automated, data-driven decision making:

Traditional supply chains with manual processes, inventory surplus, and no visibility are limited to meeting the upcoming market demands. Constraints in daily performance monitoring and production, as well as the traditional consensus forecasting approach, take companies four to five weeks’ worth of time to reach a demand-planning consensus, by which time the data gets redundant.

A better solution to eliminate such process inefficiencies and save your company a week’s worth of time is to unite all data into a single system. Garnering and updating data points from all partners within the network will empower your team to proactively recognize trends, flag threats, and help trigger preventive measures, all while saving time since the decisions are taken on real-time occurrences.

As a result, automation frees up time for managers to focus on more profitable operations, like negotiating better rates and expanding their firm.

Explore multi-sourcing service integrations

The changing global supply chain dynamics, following rising labor costs, pandemic-induced shutdowns, and surcharges in the US-China conflicts, are some of the reasons why supply chain companies must not rely on a single vendor. However, opting for a multi-sourcing supply chain strategy empowers businesses to source products across geographical boundaries, and thanks to digitization, communication with the suppliers ensures transparency and supplier portfolio balance.

This opens doors to diversification and can help companies lower the risks of supply chain disruptions, reduce prices, and safeguard against market volatility. This approach is further validated by Gartner, stating, “It’s important to build a model that reduces reliance on single-sourcing locations wherever possible. This strategy protects supply chains from future sourcing shocks caused by unforeseen disruptions.”

Deliver personalized user interactions

Integrated supply chains and visibility throughout your supply chain management is not enough to tackle the disruptive supply chain industry. Increasing customer interactions is also an essential element that is needed and requires businesses to create unique and flexible customer experiences.

Such solutions can be implemented by creative services like Headless Commerce, backed by PartnerLinQ. A scalable solution that leverages API-driven integrations and enables personalized user interactions, increasing the speed of value delivery to customers across the value chain — Meeting your business where it needs business functionality.

Realize the true disruptive supply chain solutions with the right partner.

Turning industry challenges into opportunities is the key to success for any business. This is where turning to a reliable supply chain management ecosystem partner such as PartnerLinQ comes in. While “BIG VAN” will glorify their network, the truth is that it’s all about your network and your trading partner ecosystem. 

How smoothly you onboard trading partners translates into how resilient your trading partner ecosystem is.

PartnerLinQ’s cloud-native platform ensures a smooth transition for you, working exceedingly well with custom ERP integrations while our Common Processing Workflow reduces the friction to support smooth partner onboarding. Also, easy trading partner onboarding can facilitate you turning to the new trading partners and making up for the inventory gap.

Our end-to-end supply chain visibility comes at no additional cost, whereas ‘Black Box’ EDI solutions are typically time-efficient, helping your team to spend more time on other industry dimensions. Also, with built-in analytics and a home screen monitor, we help supply chain companies proactively determine inventory shortages before they occur. Additionally, we offer Transaction and Error Analytics, a well-defined set of business rules that reduce friction, and built-in alerting, which is configurable to any supply chain condition you want to know more about.

Bottom Line

A trailblazer in digitized supply chain solutions, PartnerLinQ leverages multi-channel integrations to deliver customers and partners with enhanced experiences, helping them realize the above goals and reimagine their connected commerce. Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how to achieve digitization and transparency across your supply chain.