NZ at Level 1: Driving supply chain recovery

Mark Singh, Director of IndusHaze Advisory Limited
Mark Singh, Director of IndusHaze Advisory Limited

As New Zealand businesses begin their road to recovery into a post-coronavirus future (see blue band in schematic below) there is a need to strike a balance between what worked before and what needs to happen to succeed in the new normal.

Schematic demonstrating supply chain recovery plan

This COVID-19-triggered reset has confirmed that the future is not what we thought it would be just at the beginning of this year. Here is a brief primer on strategy, priority and technology imperatives.

Strategy

Strategies to fast-track supply chain recovery.

STRATEGY  

People

  • Learn to organise and manage a distributed workforce

Processes

  • Move away from ‘just in time’ to ‘just in case’ processes that drive resilience and speed.

Organisation

  • Challenge traditional organisation structures. Rely on expertise rather than position/rank.

Technology

  • Invest in a foundation that enables a data driven approach to digitisation and automation.  

Priority

Priorities to translate strategies into action.

PRIORITY  

Employee

  • Prioritise engaging frontline workers with empathy and greater transparency to help restore morale and productivity.

Risk

  • Consider implementing “control towers” to provide right-time data visibility, proactive alerts, prescriptive insights and autonomy in execution.  

Demand 

  • Enhance extended sales channel visibility to demand and inventory.
  • Shape demand with a view to ability to supply.

Supply

  • Enhance multi-tier supply network visibility.
  • Focus on end-to-end supply chain constraint management.

Technology

We are at an inflection point where technological capabilities are ready to transform every facet of supply chain as we know it. Here is a sneak peek.

TECHNOLOGY
  
Procurement
  • Deploy AI enabled platforms to find suppliers faster and see deep insights to make confident buying decisions.

Manufacturing

  • Harness operational data with edge intelligence and connect it with business systems to act at source.

Warehouse

  • Use smart wearables to optimise productivity and drive customer service.

Transportation

  • Leverage IoT for extreme visibility of goods in transit and ensure end-to-end traceability and provenance.

The impact of COVID-19 on supply chains requires strengthened cross-industry cooperation with a focus on understanding industry-specific needs and the development of collective action plans aimed at strengthening manufacturing and supply chain resilience.

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