However, when teams work cross-functions, there is added complexity in dealing with people who are not from your team. There is often a conflict in ways of working and levels of knowledge which tests the limits of standard collaboration processes and tools used within the team.

So how do you improve collaboration between cross-functional teams? Read on as we take you through some ways that organizations can follow on the subject. But before that let us understand what is cross team collaboration.

What is cross-functional team collaboration?

Businesses have several isolated teams but when they are introduced to the possibility of cross-functional collaboration, they can share important resources, contribute to each other’s success and thereby solve even the most difficult business issues.

Cross-functional team collaboration is a management technique to cover the gap across sales, marketing, product, human resource, finance, and engineering teams. This could apply to different functional areas as well as within individual sub-functions that may not collaborate robustly.

Why is it important?

If an organization wants to grow and make fundamental changes in its business, then they need to take on larger, cross-departmental projects. However, to ensure successful completion, the teams must speak the same language and work well together.

Organizations that invest in streamlining their processes and prioritize cross-function collaboration can reap many benefits, such as-

• Faster time-to-market
• Effective process output
• Employee satisfaction and engagement
• Customer satisfaction
• Nurturing team spirits
• Higher quality deliverables
• Less friction among teams
• Employee satisfaction and engagement

Ways to improve cross-functional team collaboration

Here are a few ways that can help organizations establish a truly collaborative environment.

Establish a collaborative environment

Collaboration between cross teams is about setting an environment in which teamwork is valued and rewarded. Through collaboration, employees can take advantage of the organization collective knowledge-base, thus benefiting from the pool of expertise. This allows businesses to avoid work overlapping while improving problem-solving and innovation.

Provide visibility and context for the long-term company vision

Employees feel more engaged when they are aware of common goals and how they fit into the big picture. When there is a possibility for a shared win in a bigger project, there is a significant rise in the chance of success. However, cross-functional collaboration efforts can fail if the company doesn’t have a long-term objective to guide the teams forward. Once a company has all-encompassing vision, every team can begin creating their own strategies of how to support in the best possible manner, including the product road map, growth plan, and so on.

Consolidating technology

Different teams often use a variety of tools to get their work completed. This can certainly hinder real collaboration. By consolidating the tech tools and getting everyone to use the same ones, the organization improve communication and streamline logistics and the allocation of resources.

Creating purposeful cross-team projects to nurture belonging

To improve collaboration between cross-functional teams, organizations should put forward purposeful projects with shared goals to motivate all stakeholders. If the teams understand why projects are important and how the results will benefit each team as well as the company, they will likely work together effectively. However, to ensure this, the company needs to make sure that the teams communicate effectively. Also, the organization has to give the teams enough independence to make critical decisions and follow through with them.

Selecting the right team members

Organizations are finding it more difficult to differentiate themselves from the competition. Those towing ahead have understood that putting the right people in the right jobs creates an opportunity that would not exist otherwise. Collaboration works well when teams have complementary skills sets required to finish the project.

Increasing transparency and removing information silos

If the teams have strategic alignment and they are aware of what broader projects they are working on, teams become more motivated and open to collaboration. Things may not work out well if each team uses private communication channels, doesn’t communicate priorities until urgent, or use different tools. Therefore, for better cross-functional collaboration, companies need to help teams see how work happens and ensure that information flows freely.

To sum up, cross-functional team collaboration takes effort and time, but it’s full of rewards. Teams that make collaboration a priority can help pave the way for a smoother integration of new systems and processes.

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To meet these ever-changing needs, organizations need flexibility not only from systems but also from processes and people that support the supply chain. However, the issue is that achieving operational potential is a continuously changing target.

Maximizing efficiency with continuous process improvements

No matter how efficient the supply chain is running, finding ways to improve efficiency is something that organizations’ should always be doing.

However, knowing how to optimize and improve your supply chain can be a challenge. This is because it is an ongoing pursuit of moving inventory efficiently to meet the rising demands of your consumer and also manage cost pressures. The organizations that do this effectively don’t just purchase new technologies but look for efficiencies in day-to-day operations.

Organizations need to drive continuous in their operations and supply chain, enabling better order processing, shipping turnaround, reduced costs, increased cash flows, improved stock management, better transparency, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Process improvements become necessary for supply chains and operations to adapt to ongoing changes, technological innovations, increased demands, changing trends, and growing consumer expectations.

The role of continuous process improvement (CPI) in supply chains

Supply chains encompass all operational activities of a business internally, as well as entities and various partners externally. Therefore, supply chains cannot act as a sole entity, they depend on their suppliers upstream and require to continually intensify the level of customer satisfaction downstream.

The strategy of CPI is based on three aspects- people, processes, and technology. All three factors should work in tandem for continuous process improvement to be effective in the long term. By aligning people, processes, and technology around a CPI allows for a more effective collaboration between the operational and infrastructure technology teams, and leads to higher productivity, and better deployment of complex supply chain systems.

When organizations ensure that their employees are trained to work within predetermined processes and operational structures and these processes are integrated with technology that streamlines the delivery of preferred topline outcomes- the entire business will benefit from the new levels of productivity and precision.

Continuous process improvement is the key to realizing the supply chain potential

Continuous process improvement is an ongoing project to elevate functions and processes across the supply chain. The process should aim at gradual improvement over time and not ‘one-time’ breakthroughs. The aim should be to reduce inefficiencies in operations at each level. The organizations may be enabled by reducing the time it takes for completion of a procedure, enhancing process efficiency and improving the supply chain quality. Such improvements are based on small tweaks and basic changes and not big breakthroughs or innovations.

CPI is essential for supply chains to cope and adapt to continuous changes, meet higher demands and customer expectations, technological improvements, and deal with uncertain market situations. That said, regular feedback is an integral part of continuous process improvement. It helps in constantly identifying opportunities for further improvement by effectively prioritizing and evaluating the development of designs and concepts.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that ensuring top-line growth is not the only purpose for any organization, but to survive the changing market conditions, and competition in the long run while keeping the customer base satisfied. This can be achieved by managing and controlling the entire supply chain, both internally and externally.

The pre-requisite for supply chain operations is to improve efficiency and effectiveness to the same level by using applicable methods that can facilitate and enhance its implementation. With continuous process improvements, organizations can reduce costs and time, eliminate waste, and ease inventory, increase profits and customer satisfaction levels.

To stay relevant in the constantly evolving market and to maintain market share and competitive advantage, it is important that the organizations endorse extensive use of continuous process improvements throughout the supply chain. This will ensure that their potential framework is adjustable, logical, and resilient to uncertainties, technological innovations, and an increasingly informed customer-base.

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What is agile procurement?

Organizations now operate in an environment that requires them to be flexible to changes and make the best use of opportunities. Agile procurement is placed to be the driver of this change, comprising a team that is data-driven, collaborative, forward-thinking, and action-oriented.

Agile procurement is a method of purchasing outcome-based solutions from potential providers instead of considering a single solution, resulting in cost savings for the organizations. The approach offers specific solutions that are focused on solving intended issues and helps to maintain an amiable vendor-client relationships. It takes into consideration the opportunities and cost pressures of the supplier market before collaborating with the vendors.

The agile approach helps in aligning the organizational interests with those of the suppliers and values the significance of cost as well as speed.

The difference between traditional and agile procurement

• Agile procurement is based on an analysis of the working functionality at the end of each run instead of fixed deliverables. Whereas, traditional procurement involves fixed deliverables, a comprehensive project plan and extensive documentation.
• Time and speed are the essence of agile procurement, therefore, some steps are combined together-for instance, during the sourcing process contract negotiations can be entered. Traditional procurement, on the other hand, works on legacy frameworks and systems. A lot of time is taken with each stage of procurement- identifying the requirements, defining the procurement plan, selecting suppliers, tender evaluation, and so on.
• The agile procurement method lays importance on maintaining a cooperative and positive relationship between both parties right from the beginning of the procurement process. However, in the traditional approach negotiations can sometimes get stressful and challenging which can damage the relationship between buyers and sellers.
• Agile procurement projects are divided into parts that make it easier to cost-effectively change the vendor at the end of each part. Whereas it is difficult to switch vendors after the project has started in the traditional approach since the new vendor will have to first understand the work-in-progress of the earlier vendor before he begins his work.
• A select handful of people may be opted to form a cross-functional team under the agile approach. However, a large team of professionals is employed under the traditional method.

To sum up, the agile procurement method is more effective, offers greater efficiency, and has a faster time to market speed when compared to traditional procurement.

The Benefits of Agile Procurement

Organizations typically develop a level of comfort with their tried-and-tested vendor selection process, and that may work for projects with fairly stable deliverables and a long lead time. However, if the organization is looking to forge ahead, disrupt the norms and deliver something exciting and new, the traditional vendor selection process may not be good enough. Having an agile procurement process is a better way to adapt to the change.

The agile procurement process offers the following strategic advantages

• Specification-driven and time-consuming processes can be altered by discussing solutions instead of approaches. It enables businesses to make intelligent moves quickly
• The agile approach anticipates the change thus allowing both parties to be flexible and adapt to the change as the data becomes available. This ensures that the best solution is delivered
• When organizations’ invite vendors into a collaborative partnership, facilitate a better working relationship and tend to expand their pool of innovative options
• Much of the in-house inventory management load gets shifted to the vendor, where they know how to manage their material in the best possible way
• Lastly, agile procurement metrics are more meaningful to measure in real-time

Conclusion

In this rapidly changing world, procurement teams are always in the dismal need of procurement models that demand less effort and are efficient so that they can freely give complete attention to their primary work responsibilities. Agile procurement is a favored method because of its fast and trim approach. It shuns the traditional approach and instead embraces change and innovation.

The agile procurement process effectively collaborates between the business seeking the solution and the supplier of that solution. The approach is all about being flexible and adaptable to continual changes.

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Organizations that support PMP certified professionals have more well informed, expert, and disciplined workforce. Hiring PMP certified resources organizations can make sure that the resource is well aware of recent developments in the project management field. Moreover, having PMP certified consultant will ensure that the person is rightly equipped and has the necessary skills to carry out project management work at the highest level. This article explores the business value of PMP certification i.e. why you should hire a PMP certified consultant for project/program management.

Why PMP Certification?

Project management has become more complex and challenging in today’s world. Organizations are looking for professionals to run their projects who are PMP certified.

PMP certified holders are trained according to best project management practices that meet global standards. The certification validates a candidate’s project management skills and shows the commitment to furthering his/her professional development.

By hiring a PMP certified consultant you can ensure that the individual would be well-equipped to identify, scope, and deliver large end to end projects.

Let’s dig deep into it and find out why you should hire a PMP certified consultant

PMP certified consultants have greater chances to make projects successful

The knowledge gained by PMP certified professionals allows them to manage projects in a more robust, smart, and efficient manner when compared with individuals who are not PMP certified. The success rate is much higher in projects run by PMP certified consultants; they can save costs and a lot of time by managing the project efficiently. With PMP certified people, organizations tend to complete more of their projects on time, and on budget while meeting the defined goals.

Therefore, hiring a PMP certified consultant has become important for most employers since they can ensure minimizing project costs and maximizing output.

Potential clients now want only PMP certified consultants

Nowadays, many potential clients keep a mandatory requirement of having a PMP certified professional onboard because they understand the importance of good project management and they do not want their project to fail or go over budget or beyond schedule. The clients know that PMP consultants will manage their projects in a more efficient way than the non-certified people. As a result, organizations are now preferring to have PMPs in their team as it maximizes the chance of getting new projects.

It streamlines and standardizes project management practices

Hiring more PMP certified people in an organization means that there will be standard project/program management procedures. This is because PMPs across the globe be likely to follow the same project management framework and procedures. It results in higher collaboration and synchronization in the program or project.

For instance, Project Management Professionals lay great importance on communication during projects and recommend making a proper communication plan within the project plan. By having more PMP professionals, an organization can ensure proper connection to all the stakeholders is being made and all the prospects of the projects are being communicated to the top management. As a result, there is active participation from top management that can contribute significantly to the project’s success.

PMP certification shows the seriousness of an individual in the Project Management Profession

By hiring a PMP certified individual organization can be assured that the individual is serious about the project management profession, and it is his/her chosen career path. This is important since many employers invest a significant amount of time and effort to mould and train the employee according to their methodologies and procedures. Most organizations conduct trainings and sponsor certifications for project management. Hence, hiring a PMP certified individual is more beneficial than hiring a mere part-timer in the field of project management since it saves both time and costs. Furthermore, PMP certified professionals rarely change their career path.

Final Word

PMP certification as a skill is not only important for individuals who wish to pursue a career in project management but also for employers. Project Management Professionals have an up-to-date and refined set of skills and tools that can have a great impact on the success of running a project. PMP certified consultants can be boon to organizations for winning new projects and completing them successfully. The standard project management methodologies followed by the PMP professionals can lead to increased productivity and eventually the growth of the organization.

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What is Strategic Sourcing?

Strategic sourcing is a holistic approach to developing channels of supply that deliberate all activities within the procurement cycle to get the best possible total cost instead of only the lowest purchase price of those goods.

Strategic sourcing enables businesses to consolidate their purchasing power to secure the lowest possible total cost of ownership and reduce the risk to the supply chain. It requires continuous re-assessment of the business’s sourcing activities, market analysis, and aligning of business requirements and goals with those of the suppliers.

The process views suppliers as crucial value partners and aims to build sustained and collaborative relations. At every stage of the lifecycle, the customer-supplier loop is analyzed to ensure that needs of the businesses are efficiently and continually met.

How does it work?

Businesses can leverage strategic sourcing to make their procurement process less focused on price and shortsighted. Instead, a sourcing plan can allow them to create an adaptable system that contributes to the overall value of the business in the long term. The process starts with analyzing business requirements and historical spending, trailed by drawing a strategic plan, and then steering market analysis and data collection that guides the selection of a list of suppliers.

The process involves working with new suppliers to integrate them into existing processes by using the communication plan. Besides selection and negotiations, strategic sourcing method also includes measuring performance and improving processes continually. It involves tracking the performance metrics and effectiveness of the sourcing plan.

Why is strategic sourcing in a supplier’s market important?

The most obvious benefit of strategic sourcing is reduced total cost, however, the advantages of reimaging the sourcing process can be far-reaching. Below are the other potential benefits of strategic sourcing in a supplier’s market.

Cost Savings

Sourcing suppliers with this method and continuous analysis of the evolving market implies that businesses can ensure that they are continually attaining high cost savings. The process also allows organizations to align their component sourcing with their business goals thus increasing their efficiency and minimizing the risk within the supply chains. By optimizing value in all partnerships and streamlining procurement, strategic sourcing reduces costs in the upstream supply chain.

Cultivates valuable partnerships

Today supply chains span across the globe and are much more complex due to digital transformation. Even the consumer is also much more informed and selective. Therefore, for businesses to stay ahead of the curve it is important to build partnerships that are advantageous to all stakeholders in the supply chain. With continuous market analysis, strategic sourcing allows the procurement team to identify areas of growth and supplier associations that do not add value.

Mitigates Risks

The process of strategic sourcing is all about optimizing affiliations with stakeholders across the supply chains. The method takes into consideration suppliers’ flexibility and innovation rather than only looking at low costs. A strong sourcing strategy helps in building rapport with a varied range of multi-tier suppliers. Therefore, in case of any supply chain disruption, a business with good strategic sourcing can fall back on other partnerships. The focus on continuous analysis and improvements leads to improved flexibility to adapt to external disruptors.

Strategic Sourcing as a business practice

Strategic sourcing is a key to the successful supply chain management. The core challenge of supply chain management is removing the barriers between the organization and its suppliers and consumers to ensure customer service excellence, operational costs optimization, and improved financial position, strategic sourcing emerges as a key factor to integrate and support the suppliers into the supply chain effectively.

Conclusion

Supply chain management and strategic sourcing go hand in hand. Global supply chain responsiveness requires knowledge of customer requirements, the partners’ and organizations’ capabilities, and the interpretation of the organization’s needs to suppliers.

Strategic sourcing provides unique contributions to supply chain competitiveness, generating opportunities for establishing better inter and intra-firm relations. With an alignment between sourcing strategies and organizational goals, an organization can effectively outline a path for developing suppliers, cost optimization for the entire supply chain, introducing innovation, and identifying and mitigating risks. By decreasing supply uncertainties, strategic sourcing optimizes supply chain efficiency and effectiveness.

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What is supply chain agility?

In supply chain management, agility means being able to plan, respond, and monitor promptly in case of unexpected events. It means to instantly change the direction when required to rationalize SKUs, shorten planning cycles, and shift production lines.

The goal is to maintain a fluid, responsive, and informed supply chain that can easily navigate changes that may come its way- whether good or bad.

Successful supply chain agility depends on the following-

• Understanding the external factors that shape supply chain logistics, irrespective of how steady things are now.
• Integration of process workflows and more proactive technology to address the pain points in the value chain.
• Exploration of components of the value chain that are most affected by industry disruption.
• Ongoing analysis and monitoring of new processes, production cost savings, and cross-functional collaboration, continuing to tweak practices if required.

Dimensions of an agile supply chain

Alertness/Awareness

Organizations that are alert can forecast changes in the industry, competitor threats, growth opportunities, and upcoming disruptions. The more aware organizations are, the quicker they can respond to changes in demand and supply trends.

Accessibility

Companies cannot incorporate changes without access to information and tools. Alert businesses have access to specific industry data in relevant history logs that all stakeholders can easily analyze and share.

Decisiveness

If organizations are decisive, they can clearly and quickly translate any industry change in the accompanying information into action. The most decisive organizations have easy and unified change-of-command to lessen the number of points of contact required to make a quick decision.

Swiftness

Swift organizations implement their plans quickly. More quickly the changes are made, more cost-effective the entire supply chain becomes and this is profitable for businesses. 

Adaptability

Agile businesses have the power and the buy-in to modify the ongoing processes when new opportunities come. This can be done without disrupting the entire business. Those capable of adaptability understand that action plans can change anytime, even when they are commenced under a smooth data-backed cycle that fits a value chain need at the time.

Ways to increase supply chain agility

Use real-time data

Maintaining real-time inventory levels is crucial to success as it provides more visibility into operations that can help companies in making informed decisions and can be proactive in implementing changes across the supply chain. For instance, the ability to view, track, and manage inventory levels across the supply chain in real-time can give a business insight into how to optimize inventory to keep costs low as well as meet demand.

Spilt the inventory

Although the primary benefit of splitting the inventory across several fulfillment locations allows businesses to expand their consumer reach geographically, a secondary distribution center can help to avoid long fulfillment delays and can help businesses to continue to meet consumer expectations even if a warehouse has to shut down due to any unexpected event. Strategic inventory management principles help to plan this crucial element and makes the supply chain more agile.

Implement demand forecasting

By implementing demand forecasting tools, companies can anticipate demand fluctuations based on the past, patterns, and seasonality. Appropriate demand forecasting can help organizations to maintain healthy stock levels at all times, plan for flash sales and promotions to be done in future, and make sure that they have enough inventory for the busy holiday/festive season.

Set Stock Keeping Units (SKU) reorder points

To avoid delays and stock-outs, companies can use past sales data and inventory to determine when it is time to reorder inventory at the stock keeping unit level so that inventory can be restocked at the right time.  

Companies can also take into consideration future growth to understand how many units of SKU should be ordered. Many inventory management solutions are available in the market that can help in pulling up the data which is required by a business to determine an optimal reorder point. These solutions also include an automatic notification feature that can notify when inventories are running low.

Investing in warehouse technology (Warehouse Management System/WMS)

As businesses expand their supply chains, they will need to store inventory in several warehouses, which can be challenging and complex. To overcome this, companies need to have technology in place that controls and monitors daily operations within the warehouse.

Warehouse technology and automation will help businesses to ensure that inventory is received, picked, stored, packed, shipped, and replenished efficiently. Besides that, the right WMS also has the potential to improve consumer satisfaction.

Final Word

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about the importance of supply chain agility even more than before. With the sudden scarcity of raw materials to changes in demand, stock-outs to shipping carriers being stretched beyond capacity, the world has seen it all. Therefore, it has become essential for businesses to increase their supply chain agility to thrive in such constantly changing scenarios while maintaining profitability.

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What is Material Requirement Planning (MRP)?

MRP is a standard supply planning process that helps businesses, predominantly product-based manufacturers, understand inventory requirements while balancing demand and supply. Businesses use Material Requirement Planning, a subset of supply chain management systems, to resourcefully manage inventory, schedule production and deliver the right products at optimal cost and on time.

Why is MRP important?

MRP helps businesses to know the requirement of inventory to meet the demand, optimize their inventory levels and production schedules. Without these insights, businesses have limited responsiveness and visibility which can result in-

• Ordering inventory in excess can increase the carrying costs and blocks up capital in inventory overhead that could have been used somewhere else.
• Failure to meet demand due to insufficient raw materials resulting in loss of sales, out-of-stocks, and canceled contracts.
• Delayed sub-assembly builds that result in decreased output and increased production cost, disruptions in the production cycle.

Thus, MRP is relevant in many industries from Life Sciences to CPG to create a balance between demand and supply.

How to get MRP right?

Ensure Data Accuracy

It is crucial to understand the validity of data inputs because if not done then MRP efforts get compromised because of poor quality data. Therefore, for MRP to generate accurate reports is to input accurate inventory information from the beginning.

Use Forecasting

Most MRP systems take into account open sales orders or forecasts to calculate demand. Forecasts can be production or sales forecast, either way, MRP uses this information to generate material requirements. The advantages are twofold; the first being businesses can approximate their material requirements further out than the time fence that applies to the sales orders. Second, besides material planning, it will not only help in a production scheduling standpoint but will also aid in the staffing requirements.

Better management of raw materials

For operations to stay on track, businesses need to manage raw materials properly. Excess of raw materials especially when they are perishable items or have limited shelf life can lead to waste and cost overruns.

MRP helps in identifying which raw materials will be in excess and how accurate orders can be created while eliminating waste.

Stay up-to-date

MRP is driven by the required dates of the expected demand. When it comes to open sales orders, open purchase orders or even open production orders staying up to date is a must. If not, MRP will indicate to order materials well in advance of when you actually need them to meet the immediate demand of past-due sales orders.

Monitoring Vendor Performance

Changing vendors is not easy, but monitoring their performance should be a core business practice. Conducting frequent audits and reviews of historical transactions between vendors is important. This is required to check how they are in terms of anticipated lead time vs. the actual lead time. Based on this information MRP can be improved quickly.

Understanding operations capacity

Understanding the various production constraints of the work centers of your business is a must. MRP should be able to create an anticipated production schedule based on factors like present supply and forecasted demand, and employees scheduled. However, it is also important that capacity and space is also taken into account. Manufacturing more inventory that can’t be shipped or stored is not an ideal scenario for most businesses.

Optimizing MRP is the key to running businesses efficiently

MRP systems enable businesses to plan and schedule production efficiently. It ensures that that materials move through the work order quickly and customer orders are fulfilled on time. An MRP system that is integrated across an organization not only eliminates manual processes but businesses have to spend less time on building production flows to understand when and where product availability is required.

However, just like any other Supply Chain process, MRP is as good as the data which is put into it. Therefore, the better the business understands and documents its processes, the better Material Requirement Planning system can serve them. Inputting correct inventory availability, subassembly completion time, lead-time from vendors, and waste calculations is a must. Businesses must run a robust MRP to achieve substantial operational and profitability gains.

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Global supply chain crisis in 2021 and the solutions for 2022

After the pandemic, the supply chain crisis had been the biggest story in the year gone by and the COVID induced lockdowns of 2020 fueled the crisis. Many supply chain challenges such as mismanaged inventory, aging shipping fleet, and the lack of accurate data had already been there for years but the coronavirus pandemic aggravated these issues further.

What happened in 2021?

COVID was just one part of the problem, the real-world supply chain workflows became global before the tools and platforms to manage said workflows were sufficiently available. The supply chains were designed for the lowest cost and efficiency but not resilience.

Furthermore, the business and economic environment became more challenging. For instance, in the UK and the rest of Europe due to Brexit led to supply chain pressures causing increase in red tape and cross-border checks. Broadly, the firms continue to grapple with a range of international business challenges ranging from building global management teams to fluctuating international exchange rates.

Besides that, the environmental impact of logistics and supply chain activities is now being understood more widely. So if the countries across the globe have to meet their commitments and emission targets they need to develop more sustainable supply chain practices.

Fixing the supply chain issues in 2022

It seems that the supply chain crisis is not going away, the port slowdowns are likely to persist as the new virus variants have led to strict monitoring, testing, and quarantine protocols at ports. This will lead to extended delays. Additionally, the work from home trend may continue longer and that can lead to a shortage in labor supply. Besides that, the semiconductor shortage will continue this year. Demand for goods that use chips will remain high and due to lead time to build new semiconductor factories, there will be a demand and supply gap in 2022, according to a Forbes report.

Considering the above facts, here are a few solutions that can help businesses to fix their supply chain challenges in 2022.

Switching to a de-globalized supply chain

Due to the ongoing disruptions, countries across the globe are trying to become less dependent on the notion that they should manufacture goods in countries with the lowest labor costs and ship them quickly to consumers.

Businesses are now looking to move to de-globalized or resilient supply chains. This means bringing back some manufacturing nearshore and alternate sites with flexibility to alter production lines and supply chains based on demand.

Investing in technologies to improve supply chain resilience

To boost productivity, companies are increasingly investing in new technologies. According to IDC, in a few years, companies will adopt technology that will reduce supply chain bottlenecks by 10%. Businesses will also invest in services and software that enhances productivity and use AI to do more with fewer workers.

With frameworks like robotics as a service and technology as a service, smaller companies can also benefit from supply chain automation and compete with larger enterprises. Significant innovation and seismic operational changes will hold the key to the future of supply chains.

Boost pay and increase opportunities for workers to improve productivity 

Given the difficulty of hiring workers and retaining them, businesses must look at boosting their pay and increasing opportunities for them to develop new skills and gain knowledge about the business.

Investing in people will support the work environment that will align with the company’s mission with the career goals of the workers. By retaining employees and boosting their skills, business operations will become more productive.

In conclusion

The pandemic has given businesses a chance to reinvent their supply chains. The focus is on building dynamic organizations that are flexible in operations and highly resilient to global disruptions.

Businesses have to be resilient and capable of adapting to major disruptions so that they can develop long-term solutions and strategies to complex challenges. Adoption of innovative and sustainable practices will be the key to fixing supply chain challenges in 2022 and beyond.

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Automation alone can be inflexible and expensive since robots are typically designed to carry out only one specific task. The companies are realizing that the best option is to collaborate robots and human workers thus combining the speed and strength of robots with the skill and creativity of humans.

Some companies are now deploying robots to perform simple and repetitive tasks and allowing their human workforce to focus on tasks that require deeper strategizing and thinking.

This new way of collaboration between humans and robots is termed as “cobot” which means that each type of worker is allowed to focus on the task that they can perform best.

The cobot market is expected to be worth $18 billion by 2030 as per a report from Root Analysis.

The need for transformation and challenges

The need for transformation goes beyond this pandemic. With the ever-changing market needs, the manufacturing industry is under pressure to meet the modern demands of customization, quality expectations, high product variability, and faster product cycles.

Today, customers expect delivery guarantees and when they don’t get what they want, they can find another source. Therefore, good inventory management accompanied by the ability to drive goods through the supply chain at a high speed has become a must-have.

To tackle these challenges pairing robots with human skills has become the need of the hour. However, there are certain challenges with automation. Automation is time-consuming and expensive to design. The precision robots require specific coding at each step and rely on predictable and uniform tools and parts. With a slight fluctuation in any part, the machine doesn’t function properly and the production line may come to a halt as a result, long production schedules.

Similarly, relying only on the human workforce to handle huge, bulky parts can make the work strenuous, dangerous, and slow-paced. Moreover, repetitive motions may cause stress injuries. Furthermore, uncomfortable and exhausted workers are more prone to making mistakes, reducing productivity and quality.

Supply chain adoption of the human and robot collaboration

Now, deploying cobots has become simpler and faster nowadays. Unlike conventional robotics, the industrial robots are now loaded with sensors to detect the presence of humans around them and are enabled with force and speed limits that minimize any impacts.

With new technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT and cloud, robots are now able to autonomously navigate the facility as they have the in-built intelligence to identify any barrier and make a decision about how to respond to such situations. IoT enables the robots to capture data in real-time about a task while cloud is helping to drive improvements in robotics. Cloud coupled with IoT allows organizations to monitor, operate, and manage robots from anywhere which has drastically enhanced the usage of robots in the workplace.

Additionally, the cost of ‘cobots’ is becoming increasingly affordable- from complete purchase to paying rent per month/week/day/hour options is making it easier for even small businesses to justify their expense. Research done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology further boosts the ROI, according to this report human-robot collaborations are 85 percent more productive than either of them working alone.

Working in collaboration

The idea of only machine programing and maintenance may not work successfully as there is always a need for human skills and adaptability. With products becoming more customized and varied to the customer needs and local markets, the economics of complete automation does not fit in full. The time required and the vast engineering costs and the time to bring up a completely automated line for a complex product can never be paid back before the product needs to be changed.

The best option is to combine the strength, speed, and precision of industrial robots with the skill, dexterity, and judgment of human workers. With such collaboration, human workers can perform tasks that require flexibility while the robots can manage tasks that make the best use of their speed and strength.

The future of robots in supply chain management

The future of robots in the supply chain seems to be bright. The growing market demand will encourage robotic vendors to innovate further and bring advanced functionality to the supply chain. This will prompt more companies to invest in robotics and make their supply chains more efficient.

The collaboration between humans and robots will help supply chains to deliver remarkable customer service and cost to serve while refining business performance. Therefore, the businesses that embrace this change will quickly disrupt the competitor that sits idle and believes it is at the top.

With increasing cost pressures and a focus on customer centricity, the adoption of robotics will only increase.

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Managing the transportation of temperature-controlled products continues to grow increasingly. According to Pharmaceutical Commerce’s annual BioPharma Cold Chain Sourcebook- in 2021 the pharma cold chain logistics is predicted to be $16.6 billion industry. This includes the transport of temperature-controlled goods along a supply chain through refrigerated and thermal packaging procedures and the logistics planning to safeguard the integrity of the shipments.

Understanding the pain points

In the healthcare industry, the pharmaceutical cold chain is a key part of the supply chain and cold chain logistics services help the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry maintain a continuous supply of drugs from distributors and suppliers in various locations.

Nowadays more high-value active ingredients are being used in drug manufacturing that have a short shelf life and come with strict temperature requirements. Hence the need for monitoring and temperature control through the complete supply chain has grown manifolds. Even the drugs that are typically safe at room temperature may need practices to avoid the spikes that come with related transportation.

Logistics providers are now receiving increasing requests for Controlled Room Temperatures which involves the usage of refrigerants, insulated containers, temperature-monitoring electronics, and thermal blanketing. With products being handled multiple times from suppliers to end-user, there is a requirement of an assemblage of temperature controls to maintain quality, coordinated actions, and monitoring tools along the entire supply chain.

The biggest challenge with cold chain logistics is to maintain a certain temperature range throughout the delivery cycle. Multiple variables impact the length of time a product’s temperature is considered controlled. Temperature-controlled transportation requires specialized equipment and trucks, and skilled drivers.

Monitoring the temperature is another huge challenge and without that in place pharmaceutical manufacturers lose control over their goods as it moves up in the supply chain.

Besides that, increasing pharmaceutical mandates and globalization is causing many pharma manufacturers to implement more strict protocols to stay ahead of the regulation. For instance, in European Union, almost 80% of pharma products need temperature-controlled transportation.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the cold chain’s role in the pharmaceutical industry. With temperature-controlled vaccines for the virus, there is a need for optimizing the entire supply chain for the industry.

Traceability across the supply network

To ensure product quality there is a need for a system to track unit-level items, identifying issues, finding an optimized solution, communicate an action plan, and compose a response. Supply networks function based on the trading relationships between manufacturers, producers, retailers, suppliers, distributors, and consumers. Full traceability across the supply network that includes visibility across final products, raw materials, and intermediaries across trading partners and to the end consumer.

Monitoring

The companies that outsource logistics, their carriers and providers become an important part of the process with a high level of risk. To avoid the risk, recordable devices such as RFID tags and sensor technologies can enable companies to manage and monitor supply chains.

Digitization and Visibility

Most of the pharma companies are now working towards digitization. The main objective is visibility on demand into each business process right from production to sale. By digitizing the entire supply chain process pharma companies get better control and coordination and they can base their decisions on reliable data and information. The use of technologies such as IoT to collect real-time and relevant data and cloud platforms- to manage the data and make sense of it for your business needs and supply chain.

The demand for visibility across the supply chain due to increase in globalization that includes temperature monitoring and location irrespective of where in the world product is moving, is driving the technology market to create solutions to deliver and track data in real–time.

Final Word

To meet the varying demands and not to mess up an already complex process, the cold chain logistics in the pharmaceutical industry needs to be based on three points- service, agility, and cost-effectiveness.

Furthermore, with the expanding reach of the pharmaceutical cold chain sector the logistic providers, manufacturers, and carriers will need to continue to coordinate their efforts to address the ongoing cold chain challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.

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