Top tips to get your Christmas supply chain ready this festive season
With the days ticking down till Christmas, it’s important that your supply chain runs smoothly during this time of year. Here are some top tips to ensure you have a well-functioning end of year supply chain.
The Christmas and festive holiday season has presented many challenges for organisations and their supply chains over the past couple of years.
This year is even more challenging as industries around the globe have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting global supply chain shortages.
Failing to take into account these potential shortages is bound to create bottlenecks in ensuring your organisation has the products it needs to do business.
Getting on top of your business’ logistics management is essential in ensuring your organisation’s supply chain doesn’t have any issues during the holiday season.
Plan ahead for any possible supply chain issues
2022 has been a year marred by supply shortages, from car microchips to food, and everything in between. Planning ahead for supply chain shortages is absolutely crucial as it allows you to formulate alternative supply chain plans if any issues occur.
One way of counteracting the shortages is to order products and materials earlier on in the year to avoid end-of-the-year supply chain issues.
While many organisations operate with a lean or just-in-time philosophy, a safety stock of goods and materials in your network will help ensure your supply chain continues to function all-year-round.
The threat of strikes by U.S. railroad employees and U.K. port workers could snarl transportation lines. Ports and air freight are subject to disruption while under stress from the peak season. Your shipments could have a lower priority than a retailer racing to stock shelves in time for last-minute shoppers. Containers in Asia are in short supply too, leaving some products stranded.
Make sure you have plenty of stock available in your supply chain
During the Christmas season, you need to make sure that you have plenty of stock already available in your supply chain. Having lots of empty shelves can impact not only your organisation’s bottom line, but your supply chain too.
As you plan for a new year, ordering more materials and products earlier on will ensure that you have more than you need to sell or manufacture in your supply chain. Having extra stock on hands will reduce the chance of making expensive expedited orders during the holiday rush.
Increase supply chain transparency and communication
Communication and transparency are two of the most important things that your organisation needs to have a well-functioning supply chain.
Keeping your lines of communication open with suppliers and partners is crucial for building good relationships with them. Good communication reduces the risk of miscommunication, but also ensures that your Christmas supply chain doesn’t run into any issues.
Having a greater level of transparency helps ensure any problems are easily rectified.
In your Christmas supply chain, you want to make sure that all materials and products are easily traceable from start to finish. If there are any anomalies or disruptions, everyone in your organisation will know about it and quickly find a solution to the problem.
Make your supply chain more flexible
A flexible supply chain can help ensure that your organisation is resilient enough to withstand any issues that may arise during the holiday season.
Diversifying your supply chain by having multiple suppliers in your network gives you the flexibility to choose more than one supplier. For example, if you run into issues getting an important material for a product you are creating in your supply chain, you can ask the other supplier to assist in supplying this material to you. It’s smart to look for suppliers in different geographies or use different transportation modes to ensure you have viable alternatives.
You could also order products and materials from suppliers in smaller quantities. While it may be more expensive to buy a particular material or product in the short-term, it can help avoid any supply chain issues from emerging during the Christmas holiday period.
If you’re concerned about getting your Christmas supply chain ready for the holiday season, then these tips will help stop any bottlenecks or shortages from emerging. Thus ensuring that your organisation’s supply chain will be in the best position to get through Christmas and beyond.
Procurement professionals, what tips did you use to ensure that your supply chain continues to run smoothly during the festive season? You can share your tips in the comments below.
Find more Innovation news, insights, and best practises at Procurious.com.
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