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Logistics Solutions for Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges

Natural disasters, traffic congestion, cyberattacks, and, of course, pandemics around the world can all cause supply chain disruptions. This means your business will face unforeseen challenges beyond those you deal with in everyday operations.

Disruption has taken on the status of the new normal since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Many companies are still having trouble getting back to business as labor shortages and record-high gas prices hinder their efforts.

With a clearly defined logistics plan in place, the impact of such issues can be reduced, if not nearly eliminated.

6 Considerations for Logistics Stability

Being prepared for any situation is essential to prevent issues or to achieve a quick recovery. In this article, we will explore 6 challenges facing the average business today, and the best practices we recommend as a logistics solutions provider to address any supply chain disruptions before they happen.

Communication

There are many moving pieces to keep track of while managing a crisis. Maintaining effective and open communication is the greatest approach to staying on top of responsibilities.

Keep all parties involved in your supply chain informed, including the production team, the fulfillment department, the staff, and of course, the customers. Everyone will remain on the same page and focus on the same objective if there is end-to-end visibility.

Customers

When facing supply chain challenges, a top priority should be to make sure the customer is aware of any disruptions. The goal should be to offer the same superior products and services in a timely manner, regardless of the challenges your company may be facing.

Customers should be informed as soon as possible if disruptions are so severe that you are unable to meet their expectations. Let them know of the problem and your proposed solution. To keep them satisfied, you might even provide refunds, discounts, or some other incentive.

Inventory

Even when business is going well, you should always be ready for the worst. Building your backup inventory is one approach to accomplish this.

You should maintain an inventory level that is just a little bit higher than what is typically required. This will enable you to send out this backup inventory in the event of a production process disruption and cut down on delays.

Having an established 3PL partner to ensure consistent inventory will go a long way to guarantee you will never be without the necessary stock to meet your customer’s expectations.

Contingency Plans

Your contingency plan is your best ally in times of crisis. This is a plan you’ve developed that outlines different supply chain steps. The objective is to reduce risk, interruption, and consumer dissatisfaction.

Think about different inventory possibilities, neighboring suppliers, and alternative shipping routes when developing this plan. Consider all potential “what-if” scenarios. Having a strategy will save you from scrambling at the last minute, even though some of these occurrences might seem improbable.

Your logistics solutions partner will be able to help steer you towards the best alternatives, ensuring all considerations have been made and discussed in advance.

Audits

A business’s creation of a supply chain contingency plan is just the beginning. Additionally, you must maintain the plan and constantly check for problems.

Regular supply chain process audits are essential because they can identify vulnerabilities and address them before they become serious problems. You can be sure your investments are going toward the proper improvements thanks to the information an audit provides.

Experience

One final piece of the puzzle when evaluating your logistics solution plan is to make every effort to learn from current disturbances and any others you have already overcome. Keep a detailed record of the response process and note any particularly challenging steps.

After that, you can update your backup plan or any other area of the company that needs improvement going forward. You’ll recover more quickly the next time you have disruptions if you draw on lessons from the past.

Your Logistics Solutions Partner

One of the best ways to address each of these points and reduce potential problems is to find a logistics solutions partner that has faced similar challenges and helped guide many other businesses through times of uncertainty.

An established and proven logistics company will have already developed its own solutions for supply chain management, and with their guidance, you can easily establish a plan of your own. This requires trust and dependability. 

A company like Murphy Logistics is able to answer difficult questions, show evidence of past successes, and lay out the groundwork for a logistics solutions strategy that fits your business. This partnership will be vital to minimizing the speedbumps that come with supply chain challenges.
Discuss your supply chain challenges with the Murphy Logistics team today and discover why so many businesses turn to Murphy for 3PL logistics solutions and strategies.