How you can prepare your supply chain for a recession

You feel it coming. A looming recession is in the works and that can only mean one thing—consumers have pulled back on spending and are prioritizing purchasing bare necessities and steering clear of additional costs. These shifting demands are going to undoubtedly cause a chain reaction flooding into supply chains with labor shortages, de-prioritization demands, and a thorough effort to meet market needs as they continue to fluctuate.

22% of executives expect supply chain disruptions to continue into the second half of 2023. That means supply chains must continue to monitor their inventory accurately, review their sales projections, and revisit their holistic business model.

Lower prices will be severely cutting into the profitability of all companies involved from suppliers to retailers.

During this time, it’s critical to...

• Automize: save valuable cash flow and prevent the need to pass on higher costs to consumers who are hawkish and apprehensive about spending.
• Manage your routes: know where your fleet is to ensure routes are optimized by implementing a fleet management system.
• Be customer-centric: revitalize the customer experience and invest in supply chain plans that safeguard the customer from order inaccuracy, improvised fill rates, or even delayed shipments.
• Be resilient: have the knowledge and tools to predict and respond to disruptions that are on the horizon; this means combining structural and dynamic viability with A.I.
• Be flexible: Consider Supply chain financing (lengthened payment terms for buyers and opportunities for suppliers to get paid earlier) and geographical diversification (the process of reducing the risk of being overly concentrated in one market by offering services across multiple geographies).
• Invest in sustainability: Sustainable solutions and reformed technology will set you up as a pioneer for future-forward thinking and cut costs across the entire chain in the long run.

We know navigating what to do when the economy hits a compromised state can be maddening. With the right tools to facilitate interactions among key members within the supply chain and opting to fine-tune day-to-day operations, there is always a way to use a recession as an opportunity to catapult your business instead of endangering it.

Reasons why we think you should automate during this recession... 

• It reduces labor that can be done automatically. Some tasks are costly and are better taught to machines to free up human talent for more elaborate tasks.
• It minimizes paper-based and human-based errors resulting from employee fatigue.
• It reduces fuel consumption by monitoring vehicles and drivers digitally in real time.
• It ties all loose ends together to help keep communication uniform and succinct.

Cornered and wondering how you can better optimize your systems and networks for the second half of 2023? Connect with our dedicated team that is always on hand to help curate a detailed plan weaving in our focused solutions to lift your business and polish your production cycles.