As industries have learned, both consumer and business needs can change in the blink of an eye, and supply chains must also be ready to turn on a dime when demand for goods hits an imbalance. We are already a month into 2023, and economic forecasts indicate a lot of work ahead for enterprises to stay healthy and profitable. To help with the challenges ahead and build on learnings from the past, I’ve outlined five critical strategies for supply chains that are deeply significant for businesses to stay nimble in the year ahead. Have a read, and let me know in the comments how you see things from your perspective. Nearshoring of Manufacturing to Mitigate Supply Shortages Last year in this column , I wrote about how the pandemic severely impacted American companies’ offshoring practices over the past few decades. Offshoring was the preferred, cost-friendly way that American firms performed their manufacturing since the 1980s. Using lower-cost Chinese labor to achieve profitable production helped keep offshoring at the top of the international manufacturing list. But when COVID hit and China shut down manufacturing across multiple regions, the system was severely impacted. As I wrote then, “the engine seized.” In […]
