With volatility here to stay, supply chain planning is all about resilience

It was only a year ago that business leaders and investors were trying to anticipate the next twist in the US-China trade negotiations. Meanwhile, in Europe, all eyes were on the UK-EU Brexit negotiations. With heightened uncertainty and an economic downturn already looming, we were heading for a tough 2020. Then came the pandemic.

Fighting for survival

Almost overnight, everything changed. Many companies were ill-prepared to deal with a major event, let alone a seismic shock like Covid-19. Business leaders already under intense pressure to manage faster innovation and supply chain complexity suddenly found themselves in a fight for survival.

While we don’t know how long the pandemic will last, we do know that it’s a global challenge. And with each country making its own decisions, businesses are facing a highly uncertain future. It’s not just about volatile demand. Sourcing, logistics, production – there’s an impact on every part of the supply chain. This report from McKinsey Global Institute takes an in-depth look at the challenges businesses face as profound shocks become more frequent and more severe. The name of the game is resilience.

Building a resilient company

Building a resilient company is a complex undertaking that ultimately comes down to a business’s ability to adapt to whatever is thrown at it – quickly and intelligently. Success will depend on many factors, but crucial is enabling robust planning and management decision support.

Now is not the time to rely on spreadsheets or MRP systems for planning. It is a task for intelligent supply chain optimization solutions, capable of modeling your processes and constraints, providing speedy analysis of multiple scenarios, and business-wide optimization.

You may be preparing a sourcing strategy to mitigate your exposure to political and regulatory uncertainty such as tariffs, taxes, embargoes, and currency fluctuations. Or perhaps you are looking at the possibility of outsourcing production. In either case, you need a flexible planning solution that provides reliable decision support.

And when a crisis strikes – as with the pandemic, time is of the essence. A good planning solution will let you realign your supply chain model on the fly while ensuring your plans remain optimized for maximum profitability.

Volatility is here to stay

Business uncertainty is at a level most of us have never experienced. Companies need to ensure that proper planning and decision support tools are put into place to help navigate the journey ahead.
Optimity provides a complete platform for supply chain modeling, profit optimization, and scenario and decision impact analysis. If you want to transform into a resilient company that is ready to thrive no matter what is around the corner, get in touch. We’d love to talk.