As many of you will know, supply chains in diverse industries have been subject to severe disruptions over the past few years. Some of these have proven catastrophic, and have often appeared to be unavoidable.
To keep these disruptions to a minimum and increase predictability, it’s crucial that you keep up to date with the latest trends. Here, we take a look at some of the main things to look out for in supply chain management in 2024, from advanced analytics to the importance of reliable suppliers.
AI-powered analytics software
Artificial intelligence seems to be all the rage these days, and one of the main areas where it’s being applied is in predictive technologies.
By sifting through complex and vast data sets, these kinds of software can often make predictions related to supply chain issues that a human analyst wouldn’t be able to make, in a very short timeframe.
This can help businesses to avoid bottlenecks, by either stocking up or looking for new suppliers in areas where these supply-related issues don’t apply.
Reliable suppliers
Another trend in 2024 is to look for reliable, specialist suppliers. Over the past decade or so, there has been a proliferation of low-quality mass suppliers, who stock a bit of everything but operate in an incredibly chaotic manner.
While these kinds of suppliers can be annoying for consumers, for businesses, they can spell disaster. Using specialist suppliers such as EPD Parts enables you to operate with a higher degree of certainty, based on a long-term professional relationship of trust.
Sustainability
Sustainability is also proving to be a key issue in a range of different areas, particularly in logistics and supply chain management. It’s historically been an area involving high amounts of waste and excessive emissions, but a lot is being done to tackle this as we move through 2024.
From the use of advanced software solutions to optimise ordering and delivering processes, to the adoption of electric vehicles and increasingly efficient lorries, it’s crucial to stay up to date with these issues so that you know what’s available to you.
Managing risk
With supply chain management, it’s always the case that some issues and bottlenecks will be far more damaging to your business than others. In order to manage risk in an effective manner, you need to take a serious look at each area of your business and identify key areas where issues are likely to occur.
Based on this, you can then implement backup plans and other risk management solutions, so that you’re prepared in the case that a supply-related issue does occur.
Keeping up with supply chain trends can be tricky, but if you know where to look, it shouldn’t take too long at all. By scanning the relevant sources for just a few minutes every day or two, you can make sure that you’re not missing out on any potentially crucial solutions that your business could adopt. It’s always better to slowly adapt to changing times than to suddenly be left in a state of stressful catch-up.
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