The Inovis Blog

Frank Quinn points out in his most recent blog post that there’s no better time than now—whether the recession is actually over or we’ve reached the beginning of the end—to “lean down” your supply chain. I couldn’t agree more. Supply Chains have evolved over the years into complex beings, and that means adapting more sophisticated strategies in order to get ahead. Here are several ways to cut costs and smarten your supply chain.

• Implement Trading Partner Scorecards – Many retailers have little visibility into how their vendors are performing beyond sales, margin and order quantities. And many companies are tasking a handful of staff with managing thousands of vendors. An on-demand scorecarding system can monitor and validate partner transactions against key metrics and compliance rules.  This helps retailers quickly assess who’s performing and who’s not. Retailers can then react according to this data, helping to lower supply chain costs and enabling a more strategic approach to the vendor base.
• Know Your Risks – There are three fundamental risks in the supply chain that can potentially affect your bottom line. They include tactical (delays and disruptions with suppliers due to the lack of end-to-end visibility within the supply chain), financial (rising costs of labor, transportation, commodities and food), and strategic (government regulations, export embargoes, natural disasters and terrorist attacks). Protecting your supply chain begins with understanding the risks, identifying the points where problems could disrupt your supply chain and taking appropriate measures to prevent them from harming your business. SVP of Supply Chain Risk Practice for Marsh, Inc., Beth Enslow recorded a fantastic podcast with Inovis last year on Risks in the Supply Chain that is available on-demand and definitely worth listening to.
• Gain Some Insight Through Supply Chain Visibility - Visibility is extremely necessary for organizations because it provides companies with insight into what is going on, or maybe even more importantly, what is not going on within their supply chains. Did the goods that were ordered get filled and shipped in time and in full? Is the shipment going to be delivered at the right time? How do my vendors or suppliers perform and how does their performance impact my business? These are all questions that a supply chain visibility solution can help answer by monitoring daily supply chain activites and delivering comprehensive views into the resulting data sets.
• Consider a SaaS Solution – In today’s economic environment, organizations are challenged to do much more with much less. Software-as-a-Service offerings meet the complex needs of business while reducing operational requirements and increasing speed to benefit. As companies redefine who they are in the marketplace and as the landscape in the economy continues to shift thanks to the current economic situation, businesses need to look at what they do and find ways to improve their processes. SaaS offers great opportunities to get real-time benefits as quickly as possible and can help you to attack your business with a meaningful ROI.

Then there are the strategies such as cross docking and JIT inventory that have become less feasible during the recession. While these methods may still hold strong for certain businesses, visibility is an absolute must when implementing such tactics. Otherwise, your company may get caught in the trap of being reactive rather than proactive when the margin for error matters the most.

What do you think is missing from this list? How can organizations get rid of what’s causing extra and unneeded time, inventory and costs?