Are You Ready For The Supply And Demand Spike?

Right now, supply chains are being re-thought. Inventory management software is being updated. And warehouse teams are being brief. They’re all being made ready for one thing. The sudden shock of higher demand from consumers. Now that businesses are back, everyone is waiting for the huge rise in demand and businesses are wondering if they are able to cope with the increase. Well, that all depends on your supply chain, your ability to adapt rapidly and your workforce being able to cope with the changes. It’s all about planning. Even if your city or country is out of lockdown, it’s not too late to begin this.

Supply chain changes

Rather than relying on cheap foreign labor, it’s best to move your supply chains back home or at least, closer to home. If you’re a business in America, why not move your supply chains to South America or Canada? If you’re an Italian business, move your supply chains to Eastern Europe. What we have found out is that when China sneezes, the Western hemisphere catches a cold. Supply chains emanating from China are constantly on shaky ground, which is why a staggering 33% of companies are moving out of there.

Their government cannot be trusted, unfortunately, as they did not warn businesses of the pandemic and didn’t act to contain it either. Supply chains closer to home, boost jobs and keep the talent and culture closer to your business itself. This makes freight haulage, time management and more control, increase at your disposal. 

Warehouse and sales

You should only supply what is demanded, but if your warehouse has been dry for many months how do you change things up? Well, your sales departments have to work hand in glove with your warehouse storage teams. It’s best to inform them that there will be bulk orders. In other words, you will wait for consumer orders to reach a certain level, before you transport those goods to the warehouse. This way, they are not stacking half pallets and your manufacturing costs don’t go up. Wait for about 50 orders or so, to be placed, before you begin to store more inventory. Storing them in batches is going to prevent costs from spiralling, and it will maintain the good order of

Ready your infrastructure

Just as our workforce structure will need to have the cobwebs dusted off, your IT infrastructure has to be given a reboot. Speak with a company that offers cutting edge  IT Support and design a system that is leaner, more efficient, costs less and is flexible enough to adjust and move with the flow of the demand. Consumer purchasing cycles have gone out of the window, for now, people will want to spend money as they see fit and not obey the usually seasonal buying culture. Whatever kind of IT projects you have in mind, such as more servers, encryption or just software updates for your employees to be more productive, IT support services are your lifeline.

Let’s all get back to work, let’s all be ready to meet and please our customers. Now more than ever, we must be ready to accept, that, the customer is always right. 

This is a contributed post.