It may be tough for business owners to know how to improve their velocity or where to focus optimization efforts because there are so many moving components in a supply chain. Here are some good practices your company can use to increase its supply chain speed.
Use your data to anticipate demand.
Anticipating future demand is critical to planning your supply chain ahead of time and ensuring that you’re replenishing on time.
Historical sales data is the most useful tool in your arsenal for demand forecasting, even though you can’t predict the future with complete accuracy. You may use historical sales data to develop trends that will assist you in better timing purchase orders, planning for busy seasons, making decisions more quickly, avoiding stockouts or overstocking, and keeping everything running smoothly by
Investigate your suppliers and distribution partners.
Third-party partners, such as suppliers and distributors, play an essential part in supply chain velocity. Its management is effective when all relevant parties are dealt with effectively to guarantee a smooth operation.
So it’s critical to do a thorough evaluation of your suppliers and partners, looking for which ones are underperforming (and need to be replaced) and which are providing a great deal of value and increasing its velocity (with which you should nurture deeper connections).
Update your technology stacks
Updating your technology is not only beneficial to the bottom line but also to staff training and development, efficiency, and productivity. Updating outdated systems — or, even worse, managing it all by hand – is a sure-fire way to stifle information exchanges. On the other hand, the proper technology may significantly boost shipment speed by boosting supply chain
Invest in technology platforms that are up to date and intuitive, such as order management, inventory management, and data and analytics. This provides its visibility, allowing you to find and address issues or bottlenecks promptly.
To enhance operations, utilize its technology that will help you automate various elements of your operations, predict demand accurately, and offer ideas on optimizing delivery times.
Supply chain backups are also essential for unforeseen events or changes.
A resilient and agile supply chain has a plan in place. Supply chain planning enables you to anticipate problems so that, if they occur, your supply chain may bounce back quickly.
There are a few things you can’t anticipate, but there are certain material measures you may take to improve your supply chain so that it can keep up its pace.
- When the situation becomes critical, get in touch with suppliers, distributors, and workers who can offer prompt assistance.
- Create omnichannel contingency plans.
- Always maintain a safety stock and distribute goods among numerous fulfillment and distribution centers to avoid having all of your inventory stolen.
- Work with a 3PL with a wide range of shipping carriers to minimize service disruptions.
- To enhance data security, create backup servers.
When it comes to supply chain velocity there is a need to meet growing demand, respond quickly.
You can also boost supply chain velocity by improving demand management, which includes reacting quickly to increases in demand. A “demand pull” system is required since it entails “pulling” the goods through the manufacturing process in a way that is largely dependent on customer demand. This allows you to minimize waste while enabling you to respond quickly to any changes in demand
Don’t let the ball drop at the end of the supply chain.
Many ecommerce businesses concentrate on product procurement, logistics, and manufacturing in their supply chain since they have less control over them. Keeping a close eye on these activities is important, but the latter half of the supply chain is just as essential.
Warehouse management and order fulfillment procedures can help you get products to customers faster and more efficiently.
To guarantee customer delight, fast, proper, and precise packing is critical. Packaging should provide a distinct unpacking experience to the consumer, and last-mile carriers must be carefully chosen to maintain its velocity all the way to the client’s door.
Consider utilizing supply chain as a service to enhance your inventory management, picking, packing, and shipping procedures.
Lean on the experts
Small companies frequently find that the expertise of industry specialists is beneficial in order to achieve supply chain velocity. Outsourcing various aspects of your supply chain management (such as warehousing, storage, inventory management, order management, and order fulfillment) allows you to delegate repetitive, complicated, or time-consuming activities to people other than yourself.
Outsourcing these tasks to specialists will make it simpler to achieve supply chain velocity, as they are the ones that are most vulnerable to disruptions.