Four costly supply chain mistakes that leaders must avoid.

The larger, more complex and interdependent an industry grows, greater the scope for errors to occur. Certainly, the rapidly growing and highly intricate supply chain industry is no exception. 

When it comes to supply chains, be it a small error (like slight delays in tracking your shipments) or a missed opportunity (getting better freight quotes from forwarders), mistakes can and do often cost a lot of money. They can not only leave businesses scrambling with reduced efficiency but directly affect your company’s profitability. 

Luckily, most of these mistakes can be taken care of if only supply chain leaders are mindful of the red flags along the way and find long-term solutions to the problems. 

Here are some of the most common supply chain mistakes professionals tend to make:

Failure to break free from obsolete ways:

While you might have got comfortable with the age-old way of creating inquiries manually and negotiating freight rates even without realising that it’s hurting your business, it’s high time you evolve. If your organisation is yet to adopt automated solutions and digitise supply chains, you are already at a major disadvantage. 

Relying on the traditional system stifles the growth of your company as you unknowingly end up using resources where they aren’t needed. Managing your supply chain manually is not only labour intensive, time-consuming and tedious but affects your profits. 

The easiest way to deal with this mistake is to deploy a supply chain software that can automate your business processes and save a great deal of time, energy and money. 

Poor relationship with customers and vendors

Your business is bound to suffer if you fail to create and maintain a good relationship on both ends of your supply chain network.

Develop a system that will constantly listen to your customers and cater to their requirements. Remember that effective communication, concrete understanding of customer needs and timely management of the grievances your customers may have are elements that make for a solid supply chain.

As far as your vendors are concerned, a common mistake is choosing vendors based solely on who is offering the lowest price. Engage with vendors who along with reasonable rates offer help in dealing with any supply chain issue that you might be facing.

The key here is better the relationships, better the deals you get.

Underestimating the power of data

By design, your supply chain generates large volumes of data regularly. Neglecting this data is one of the easiest mistakes you can make, which in turn, will invite other mistakes on this list. 

It is not only important to collect reliable data but to turn it into actionable insights. Make sure that you are measuring the right things, the right way and have the apt technology to do the number crunching for you. Focus on the metrics and data that is most relevant to your supply chain. 

In a world where everything is real-time driven, it is more important than ever to have a system in place that rapidly generates analytical reports based on real-time data. 

Lack of preparedness to face disruptions

It is an understatement to say that supply chains are always dealing with uncertainties and are prone to countless disruptions. A crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic is but a reminder of how vulnerable supply chains are. 

It’s essential for companies to regularly analyse their crisis management plan and keep it updated. It is crucial to develop proactive strategies based on in-depth research and insights instead of counting on last-minute plans.  

Diversifying resources, engaging with more number of vendors and keeping pace with the latest market trends are a few steps that you can take to safeguard your supply chain.

Has your organisation fallen prey to any of these supply chain mistakes?

Ultimately what matters is that it’s never too late to learn from mistakes, welcome change, and continue to thrive. 

For a resilient, cost-effective and smart supply chain, reach us here.