How to Future-Ready Your Supply Chain Management Teams

In 2020, retail supply chains came under immense strain, and as the industry moves forward, the question remains: how can companies prepare for the crises and opportunities of the future?

To be more resilient in the face of unexpected supply chain disruptions, shippers must establish agile, data-driven, and cost-effective supply chain management processes.

In this ultimate guide to supply chain management, we’ll discuss how future-ready supply chain management teams:

1. Ensure carrier capacity and flexibility in every shipping scenario
2. Respond to e-commerce growth on a global scale
3. Align fulfillment strategy with business intelligence data
4. Use the cloud to integrate supply chain technologies
5. Draw on a support network of industry experts

These five points are essential for supply chain operations to pivot and/or scale, no matter what the future holds.

Ensure Carrier Capacity and Flexibility in Every Shipping Scenario

Major carriers have confirmed that peak surcharges will extend beyond the pandemic.

Tight capacity also continues to be a problem; carriers will maintain caps to minimize the impact of volume congestion in global transportation networks.

In the meantime, consumer expectations for next-day or two-day shipping persist. Going forward, it seems shippers have two choices: accept soaring carrier rates and capacity caps or fail their customers. But it doesn’t have to be this way.