Supply Chain Lessons Learned: The Procurement Groove

January 31, 2022 | By Karen Kroll

Tags: Retail, Partnership, Food Logistics

16 sound procurement lessons you can tune into moving forward.

Lesson 1 – Every Breath you Take

Monitor disruptions for their impact on market share. Supply chain disruptions historically have been considered nuisances, says Tom Derry, CEO with the Institute for Supply Management. It has now become clear they’re more dangerous, cutting into sales, and in some cases, market share.

For instance, revenue at a consumer products food company jumped about 10% over the past year. While half the increase stemmed from the growing number of consumers eating at home, the rest was due to competitors’ inability to get their products to the stores.

“The company won market share because their competitors were having supply chain issues,” Derry says.

Lesson 2 – You’re the one that I want

Source relationships, not just materials. “Supplier relationships have to move beyond transactional relationships,” says Shruti Gupta, senior manager and industrials senior analyst with RSMUS.

She recalls a mid-sized manufacturer that continued purchasing parts during the COVID shutdowns in spring 2020. It was a risk to build inventory when demand had plummeted. But when demand later spiked, suppliers gave this customer priority.

Lesson 3 – Papa’s got a brand new bag

Consider new ideas to mitigate supply chain disruptions. Dealing with supply chain disruptions often means being open to new ways of operating, says Nicole Glenn, founder and CEO of Candor Expedite.

For example, Candor is working with a fast-food retailer to test wraps that can be used on products that require temperature control, but only for a short distance. It’s one way to work around the lack of capacity in the refrigerated market.

“Logistics is often the tail of the dog whipped around by market conditions and cost-cutting initiatives,” says Spencer Shute, senior consultant with Proxima. While risk can’t be completely avoided, integrating logistics into an overall supply chain risk model enables companies to react and mitigate challenges faster and with less disruption.

Lesson 4 – Hit me with your best shot

Communicate, even when the news isn’t good. The pandemic highlighted the importance of internal and external communicatih3n that’s real time and factual—even when the news isn’t great, like a delayed product or rate increase.

“Bad news doesn’t get better with time,” says Tonya Jackson, senior vice president and chief product delivery officer with Lexmark International.

Similarly, few people like to qualify the information they’re presenting. Yet, letting others know that the information you have could change—even that it’s likely to change—allows them to begin planning for that uncertainty.

Lesson 5 – Let’s stay together

Partner with other functions to cut risks. Priorities between internal functional groups like procurement and finance often are misaligned, says Jomarie Skurtovich, vice president, operations, Avnet United and Avnet Velocity.

Finance teams often view strategies to strengthen resilience, like building inventory buffers or multi-sourcing critical parts, as too costly. Conversely, supply chain leaders see the risk in many efficiency measures, like sole-sourcing parts.

When the two work together, “enterprises are better positioned to plan and implement strategies that lower exposure to disruptive risks without introducing cost inefficiencies,” Skurtovich says. For example, proactively tapping into the expertise of finance when considering consignment or vendor-managed inventory programs can help optimize working capital.

Lesson 6 – Life is a Highway

Plan ahead. “The farther out you plan, the more you can get a jump on the competition,” says Mark McCullough, CEO, Gebrüder Weiss USA. In transportation, that often translates to better rates and transit times.

Minh Duong, chief engineer and co-founder of Anavasi Diagnostics, worked closely with the supply chain team at their contract manufacturer to understand lead times for electronics components. He also prioritized “buying emergency stock for long-lead-time materials and materials with a high risk of future shortages.”

Developing strong working relationships and sharing production plans with suppliers allows them to plan more effectively, which can lower the risk of disruptions.

Even ordering well in advance isn’t always a guarantee against shortages. For instance, when ordering extra spare parts for a conveyor system, lead times were even longer than projected, says Annette Danek-Akey, executive vice president, supply chain with publisher Penguin Random House.

While waiting for the part to arrive, her team ran their conveyor system a little slower for a few days and did some manual sortation.They also adjusted buffer inventory levels for that key spare part.

“Buffer management is a critical skill to learn,” Danek-Akey says, noting this may mean a buffer of time for a system or technology implementation, or recognizing the new, longer lead times required to buffer inventory appropriately for spare parts and standard supplies.

Lesson 7 – We can work it out

Consider accommodation agreements. If a supplier is facing issues that could cause disruptions, an accommodation agreement can help all parties. As the name suggests, these agreements include various accommodations intended to help the supplier. They’re also generally better for the customer than rapidly hunting for a new supplier, says David Dragich with The Dragich Law Firm PLLC.

One potential stumbling block, however, is their complexity; the agreements often involve the supplier, the customer, and a lender. Similarly, it’s not necessary to wait until a supplier is in distress to draw up an agreement, although that’s often what occurs.

Lesson 8 – Go your own way

Leave when a relationship doesn’t work. “Make sure the vendors you work with are really the ones you want to be in the trenches with,” says Amanda Schuier, formerly chief operating officer with Quality Transport Company. “If a vendor isn’t offering support, don’t be afraid to explore all options available to you.”

Conversely, suppliers who go the extra mile are worth keeping.

Lesson 9 – Shop around

Partner with multiple suppliers. While partnerships are key, the days of sole-sourcing may be over, at least for some critical parts, as it leaves customers exposed to the risk of disruptions if the supplier runs into an obstacle.

“Securing a second supplier closer to the retailer’s consumer base greatly reduces shipping delays, increases production, reduces potential risk, and ultimately leads to a more satisfied consumer base,” says Rob Tillman, vice president of operations with Rakuten Super Logistics.

Lesson 10 – Who says you can’t go home

Incorporate nearshoring or reshoring. While Asia promises to remain a key supplier region, the argument for near- and/or reshoring grows more compelling.

Mexico, for instance, offers relatively inexpensive ocean shipping, as well as the ability to cost-effectively move products by rail or truck. Near- or reshoring can also help companies avoid rising geopolitical tensions.

Moreover, given longer lead times and increasing transportation rates, companies may find it easier to justify moving to a local supplier that’s moderately more expensive than one located across the globe, says Kamala Raman, vice president and analyst in Gartner’s supply chain group.

Near- and reshoring isn’t always the solution. Given generally higher labor costs, reshoring often is best suited for highly automated operations, says Bharat Kapoor, global lead and founder of A.T. Kearney PERLabs. Companies in hyper-competitive markets may find customers less willing to pay higher prices for goods made in America, even if they claim to prefer them, he adds.

Lesson 11 – The race is on

Keep a mix of transportation procurement options. While shippers often can find lower transportation rates if they look hard enough, “you’ll generally follow the market rate,” says Bob McCloskey, director of logistics and distribution with Clarios, a battery technology provider. Trying to fight this can consume time and hamper operations, as you often end up without the trucks you need.

Instead, it’s generally more productive to try to mitigate costs by, for instance, boosting utilization and optimizing your network. “Focus on things you can control,” McCloskey says.

Lesson 12 – Time after time

Rethink just-in-time. A just-in-time (JIT) inventory approach “is great for cash flow, but when there’s stress in the supply chain, it’s painful,” says Nathan Vazquez, co-founder and CEO with Pipsticks, a monthly stickers subscription service.

While Pipsticks used to get products two to three weeks before they needed to be turned around, they’re now striving to get them two months ahead of time. This allows for transportation delays and cuts the risk of late shipments and unhappy customers. “As painful as it is to hold more inventory, we have to,” Vazquez says.

“There’s a shift away from just-in-time because it becomes so uncertain if a company can get the right stock when they need it,” Raman says.

This shift may be temporary. “JIT is too powerful for it not to come back,” Derry says, given the potential cost savings.

Technology and communication advances continue to make JIT more feasible. For instance, a decade ago, a customer might not know for weeks that a supplier abroad had to temporarily shut down, Derry says. With today’s social media and communication tools, they’ll likely know within hours.

Lesson 13 – It’s a small world

Consider your entire supply chain ecosystem. Companies need to look outside their four walls and even their immediate suppliers, and instead consider their entire supply chain ecosystem. “Think globally and holistically,” Gupta says.

For example, if a supplier’s supplier is disrupted, what is the likely impact to your operations?

Lesson 14 – Lean on me

Interact with customers. For most of the 25 years he has been in supply chain, Billy Duty, head of global supply with BYK, a division of Altana, seldom met with customers. Now, he spends about half his time with them.

The old model of purchasing agents talking only to salespeople, especially for key customers, is thrown out the window, he says. The reason? Few salespeople have all the information customers need.

“For instance, a customer that says, ‘our line shuts down if we don’t have this material by the 25th; what can you do?’ likely needs to talk with supply chain, not sales,” Duty adds.

This probably isn’t a sustainable model, given the other responsibilities supply chain executive have. However, it may drive development of technology that allows customer service or sales reps to offer the needed information, he says.

Lesson 15 – Stronger

Take steps toward resilience. While resilience has proven to be critical, it also doesn’t require a binary yes/no approach, Raman says. Instead, it’s actions on spectrum.

For instance, a company might decide to thoroughly qualify every single supplier, or only those whose business exceeds a certain level. No matter a company’s budget, they can identify actions that boost resilience without breaking the budget.

Lesson 16 – we are the champions

Look at the bright side. The challenges of the past few years have exacted a toll on many people and organizations. Yet, there’s a bright side for many supply chain professionals: The critical role of supply chain innovation and strategic execution has been thrust into the spotlight.

While the pandemic revealed serious gaps and vulnerabilities, Skurtovich says it also “highlighted many strengths and differentiating strategies that enabled some organizations to not just survive, but thrive.”