Ways to work around supply chain shortages

Our world is more connected than ever before thanks to innovations in transportation and technology. This, on paper at least, has improved supply chains across the board – both from what you can source, to the prices you pay. However, if the global pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that supply chain shortages and disruptions are still a very real threat for business. Moreover, our growing reliance on managing supplies from overseas may leave many industries vulnerable to severe bottlenecks and highlight weak links across supply chains. 
 
Let’s look into the ways that you can work around supply chain shortages, from offshoring your business to employing advanced ERP solutions. 

Think locally 

Although we are more connected than ever on a global scale, when it comes to securing your supply chains, thinking closer to home can help in a number of ways. If you can source your supplies locally, you can reduce the risks of problems, and the margins of error. If your supply chain is long and spans continents, you increase the chances of disruptions and lost orders. Managing supplies from overseas is a complicated process, especially if you're waiting for multiple orders to keep freight costs down or reallocating cancelled orders. 
 
Ordering locally whenever possible could make logistics much simpler to manage, which in turn lowers the chance of unexpected challenges or issues developing across your supply chain. Local supply chains may also be much more responsive to your needs and help you to reduce your carbon footprint by cutting back on the distances your components and materials must travel. 

 
Consider onshoring or offshoring 

Onshoring your business local to where your business is or offshoring by relocating it from one country to another, might serve you well if you are branching out or you are looking to source supplies from a specific region. Assessing your options here lets you manage supply chains locally to fulfil a specific area of your supply chain. It can also help you meet obligations, so if one country requires a higher quality grade raw material than another country, relocating to that area may help you buy the more expensive supplies via a local rate. 

 
Implement ERP software solutions 

‍Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, end-to-end production systems are incredibly powerful tools for businesses looking to optimise their supply chain management. An integrated and configurable system offers a lot of functional benefits to you, including production planning and solutions to manage supply chain. WinMan ERP has been designed specifically to meet the needs of the manufacturing industry, allowing you to respond more quickly to changes in your markets and satisfy supply. 
 
From streamlining how purchases are made, to improving the ability to collaborate with outsourced suppliers and supply chain partners, ERP solutions are a crucial defense to dealing with supply chain shortages. Whether you operate via lean manufacturing methodologies, are a process manufacturer or navigate a niche industry within food manufacturing as an example, ERP software is a must have solution. 

  
Map your supply chain and monitor products 

Supply chain shortages are difficult for any business and weathering the storm can be made easier if you have a good understanding of how your supply chain works via supplier mapping. Most savvy of organisations will know where supplies are being manufactured, how critical each part of the process is to your business and will be monitoring overall inventory levels. ERP helps you take this to the next level by adopting practices that encourage supply chain visibility, which in turn will help you to monitor products and your process’s performance. 

 
Plan ahead for the recovery 

When dealing with supply chain shortages, it can be easy to overlook the long-term effects on your business. To ensure your organisation has the best chance of coming out of any supply chain disruptions, you need to prepare for the long term. That means keeping the important processes, teams, systems and resources operating together to minimise the impact and maximise your long term success. 

Download your free business review template, to start taking the conversation of discussing how to optimise supply chain further here