Distribution and Fulfilment to Handle Inventory Surges

When product sales thrive, your production line is busy and your CFO is pleased with the company’s revenue week to week.

However, surging inventory because of a boom in business can also have detrimental effects on an unprepared supply chain, prompting consequential effects on your customers.

It’s great when your production line moves quickly and products are out the door in record time. But without a cohesive warehousing and distribution strategy in place with a partner you can depend upon, what happens when you have a surge in inventory?

Inventory Management

Your seasonal product surges, such as pool chemicals or Christmas trees, might be simpler to predict. But if you need to safeguard against surprises, advanced technology is available to prepare you with data to recognize patterns in consumer purchasing and help you to manage inventory.

By using technology to increase your visibility across your business, you can understand when surges in demand are likely to happen, what resources you have available at any given time, and when, where, and how to deploy these resources.

However, as we saw, even the technology savvy, well thought out, and strategic logistics departments were unprepared for how the pandemic would affect their supply chain. COVID-19 exposed a number of supply chain weaknesses, including a disjointed approach to ordering and fulfillment.

Supply Chain Disruptions

The Pandemic caused disruptions to so many businesses across so many industries, and at times, it seemed there was no resolution in sight. For many, product demands fluctuated month to month triggering capacity constraints in production and distribution facilities. You remember certain products like toilet paper and computers surged during the Pandemic because of demand.

I don’t know about you, but when I see an empty shelf, it makes me question whether it’s a product I must have as well. This run on supplies promotes the demand, prompting more consumers to act, further disrupting a just-in-time supply chain.

Let’s look at the electronics industry specifically and how their supply chain needs fluctuated during the Pandemic. The demands of at-home schooling and work pushed the personal-computer market to its strongest growth in more than a decade. It became evident, distribution facilities, and supplier networks were not engineered for this rapid shift in the demand patterns.

Order Fulfilment

Computers and printers were traveling down the production line as fast as orders were coming in, but capacity to store the electronics was dwindling in the production and distribution facility. Aligning your distribution and fulfilment strategies can be the difference between a disruption to your supply chain, and a steady increase in business and let’s face it, happy customers. Afterall, if it’s not shipping out on a truck right away, you need storage until it’s ready to hit the road.

An increase in inventory volumes is a good thing when you are prepared for it. Partnering with a transportation and distribution provider equipped with truck capacity and warehouse space will you help you avoid delays and disruptions when faced with an emergency.

An ideal partner will help you stage your products at strategically located warehouses in locations where sales are notably quick. Ultimately, you will fulfill orders, shorten delivery times, and maintain happy customers.

Warehouse and Distribution Partner

The communication between you and your warehouse partner can help you drive efficiencies in your supply chain. There are many solutions that exist in warehousing and having that candid discussion with your provider is the first step to uncovering what will be best for you and your supply chain.

You may be looking to eliminate a temporary pain point, but the conversation can also open doors to new distribution and fulfillment solutions. By discussing both your immediate needs and your end goals, the right provider will help ensure a successful supply chain solution for your business and products.

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