Adapting to Changing Customer Demands

Volatile times demand pervasive visibility and flexibility. Cost and currency fluctuations, supply disruptions, transportation capacity constraints and production recalls all put pressure on productivity.

Supply chain executives are under ever increasing stress – if there is even one misstep – your whole supply chain and its extended network can be brought to an abrupt halt.

So how can you drive integration and visibility?

By working smarter. The supply chain of the future has the instrumentation, interconnectedness and intelligence to predict, if not prevent, disruptions before they occur. It relies on new approaches that employ sensor technologies, new analytic capabilities and simulation techniques to not just sense and respond, but anticipate and act.

What are some major insights and issues that top supply chain executives are dealing with? A recent supply chain study reflects thoughts from 400 supply chain professionals worldwide.

Some of the answers might surprise you.

1. ​​Cost containment—Rapid, constant change is rocking this traditional area of strength and outstripping supply chain executives' ability to adapt.
2. Visibility—Flooded with more information than ever, supply chain executives still struggle to "see" and act on the right information.
3. ​Risk—CFOs are not the only senior executives urgently concerned about risk; risk management ranks remarkably high on the supply chain agenda as well.
4. ​Customer intimacy—Despite demand-driven mantras, companies are better connected to their suppliers than their customers.
5. ​Globalization—Contrary to initial rationale, globalization has proven to be more about revenue growth than cost savings.

With such a clear mandate for change, supply chain executives owe it to their organizations to re-evaluate current strategies and initiatives. Which investments are simply making processes faster or more efficient? And which go a step further—making the supply chain decidedly more intelligent and resilient in times of unprecedented instability and risk?

Are you effectively collaborating with your supply chain partners? Are you practicing just-in- time manufacturing?

Distinguish your business by delivering high-quality products and services with speed and agility to meet changing customer demands.

Brian Butler is the VP Business Development of The Allied Group and TAGmedica. He is also the author of two books: Find 'Em Get 'Em Keep 'Em and the recently released In Search Of...Customers!