Single source packaging is something which at first glance seems like common sense, since you can build a great relationship with a top supplier over time, becoming more and more reliant on them, offering more benefits as well. Just like trouble management and dispute resolution. A solid, long-term type of packaging supplier is great for business, but it also provides a huge risk. Recent events such as the trade war and the pandemic have started to cause huge disruptions in the chains that are there, and the impact has impacted the packaging supply especially in our global supply chains. Why? Well shutdowns and shipping delays as well have completely messed up the supply networks, causing more buyers to scramble for the supply continuity. This also is impactful because it means you’re relying on a singular source for the packaging, and it can put you at risk.
This can put you at risk in multiple ways, which is where the supplier will go offline in some ways for whatever type of reason, forcing you to have to find a new one, which is a mess if the networks are totally upended. The second one, is not as obvious. That’s because you’re over-relying on more informal and undocumented types of processes, so if the supplier does go offline, it’s difficult to unravel this in order to set up for newer suppliers. It also may take a bit longer if the new supplier is not fit with the artwork and isn’t there with the right documentation.
During lockdowns when travel is unable to happen, it also can put people in a big situation since you don’t know if your supplier is performing, even if it’s just in the next state over.
The hidden risk is very dangerous to businesses, since it does cause delays when you need items to move quickly, and delays when you set this up do mean an interruption on supply continuity. So what can you do? The simple answer is to build flexibility in the supply chain.
The flexibility of your supply chains
creating flexibility is important for virtually any business, so it doesn’t cause you to be caught with your pants down, eliminating the single sourcing risk, helping you when these problems does occur. The result of this is to ensure your chain of supply is as flexible as you can make it, allowing you to efficiently switch over the suppliers when it’s interrupted. To begin, you want to look at the key processes, and what components are needed. From there, you should also look to see if there is someone doing QA monitoring of the production and the press running in the event of a travel ban.
Next, you want to simply find and consolidate the stakeholder communications, ensuring fast and accurate information is provided. You may want to replace the email along with the excel files for online collaboration tools for quick communication. The final thing is to move everything to an online workflow type of structure. The best way to do this, is to create a database of the formal and approved specifications along with the artwork in order to ensure that the assets are there when you need them. Try to automate everything to remove the reliance that’s there on the arrangements, enabling real-time monitoring of these processes.
The bottom line to all of this is to have some options, otherwise, you’re going to be caught with your pants down, and that of course, is not something that you want to have happen, but instead, something you should try to avoid as much as possible.
