Excellent supply chain management is at the heart of success for many top-notch businesses big or small. For instance: Amazon is a trillion-dollar behemoth but started out as an ordinary online bookstore. It is said to have been responsible for kickstarting supply-chain innovations. However, improper handling of supply chain management has caused businesses to suffer tremendous losses.
There are numerous stories of businesses finding themselves unable to benefit from the changing trends in the marketplace. Companies have not obtained sufficient raw materials during the periods of high demand for a product. Not generating enough production to meet the market demand led to the loss of precious revenue. There have also been some incidents where businesses procured more material than needed, leading to unnecessary inventory costs.
The instances stated above could arise due to poor planning and forecasting of demand. In such situations, businesses could not flourish due to the lack of optimizing supply chain operations. However, supply chain management is no child’s play but rather a highly specialized niche best handled by experts with deep experience in that field. The sales and operations planning acumen needed for supply chain management have a far-reaching impact on a firm’s profitability. So, no business can afford to neglect this area of operation.
The Challenges
Supply chain management is an integral part of the daily activities of SMBs (small and medium businesses). However, SMBs face enormous challenges concerning the same problems that occur in their day-to-day business functions. It might theoretically seem considerably easy but maintaining a balance between demand and production poses a significant challenge for many businesses.
On the demand side, firms face the difficulty of accurately forecasting present and future demand for their goods and services. On the production side, businesses struggle to assess the right quantity of inventory to hold. Accurately predicting demand and optimally maintaining production resulting from sales forecasting and operations planning skills require considerable experience and insight.
Businesses also have to contend with the complex task of logistics planning. In layman’s terms, it involves discovering the best possible way for a firm’s products to get to their customers. There are multiple modes of transportation available like rail, road, water and air. The challenge then is to match the specific product or service with the most optimal transit or delivery method.
Pandemic Fueled Challenges and Their Outcomes
The ongoing pandemic has opened a pandora’s box of new supply chain challenges. The main factor is that all the existing challenges have been supercharged and exacerbated by the pandemic, bringing new challenges to face as well. The pandemic has led to both the best and the worst outcomes. The worst ones are for all to see in terms of subdued demand and supply chain disruptions.
A positive outcome stemming from the pandemic is the new lessons learned during this period, which would have been impossible to grasp during ordinary times. For instance, never in the time of human existence has anyone carried out such a massive exercise in logistics and supply chain to vaccinate humanity. There are numerous lessons to be learned by everyone, small and medium businesses included.
The Way Forward
Your business concerns may have the most advanced website with a smooth sailing customer interface. However, if it does not have a system optimizing supply chain operations, any advantage of a high-tech customer interface may severely backfire. You need an expert hand to synchronize between the client-facing side and the back-end operations. Your customer may be very excited about a business’s sleek online website interface. But even a minor hitch in the order fulfillment and final delivery of the product or service could spoil the overall customer experience.
At WDG Logistics we specialize in optimizing supply chain operations. We provide expertise to businesses in supply chain integration to reduce the inventory holding period. We show innovative ways to shorten the lead time needed to deliver products and services to customers by optimizing supply chain operations. Our work also fosters cooperation and harmony between sales, operations, product development, logistics, finance, and distribution activities.
So, regardless of whether you are in business for many years or a young start-up starting your entrepreneurial journey, the supply chain’s grave challenges must be tackled by you at every step of the way. The expertise you may need to bring the odds in your favour may not be far away. All it takes is finding a trusted partner in your endeavour to diminish your supply chain and logistics woes. WDG Logistics is that partner of choice you can safely rely on for the expert support in your journey going forward.
Sometimes it is not just the destination of your journey that matters; it is the one you choose to journey with that makes all the difference. It’s not only to achieve your business goals but also to enjoy the process and planning while you do it. To learn more about WDG Logistics or if you have any further questions, please contact us today and a highly skilled consultant will reach out to you as soon as possible.
