Because sourcing is at the heart of any procurement strategy, it is critical to the success of your supply chain.
Poor sourcing strategies have a negative impact on the supply chain such as downtime, low inventory, and a lack of supply chain transparency.
Here are five things you can do to protect your supply chain from disruptions:
1. Assemble the Right Team
It goes without saying that your supply chain requires people to function. More importantly, it requires the right people.
Consider the following when assembling your sourcing team; such as the ability to quickly learn, analyze large amounts of data, build long-term relationships, communicate, and negotiate.
2. Provide the Right Tools
In today’s supply chain climate, your productivity depends on the tools you make available to your team and the tools and solutions they have at hand can make all the difference.
With emerging technologies across the globe, the supply chain has never had the potential to be more efficient.
A great example of a sourcing solution is SAP Ariba’s Sourcing tool.
3. Have a Solid Sourcing Strategy
Your sourcing strategy is used to find the most effective, efficient, and reasonably priced solution to your supply chain needs.
So, how do you identify the right product or supplier?
Here are some tips:
- Understand the market trends.
- Always pick quality and time over price.
- Build relationships with several vendors in the market.
- Have clear expectations or targets.
4. Have Multiple Vendors for Each Product Supplied
Building long-term relationships with your vendors or suppliers is extremely beneficial to the supply chain. However, if the pandemic taught us anything, it’s the importance of having backup plans.
Supply chains are more flexible, visible, and resilient than ever before. Despite this, there is still an element of uncertainty surrounding supply chains.
To be better protected, it is critical to work with more than one supplier. A great place to start is the Ariba network where over you can connect with over 40 million suppliers and growing!
5. Constantly Review Suppliers
A supplier review provides insight into the supplier’s performance.
Constantly reviewing a supplier ensures that potential disruptors are identified as soon as possible; giving you the opportunity to prevent them from causing harm to the supply chain.
To get the most out of your supplier’s performance, make a list of performance indicators. Quality, service, delivery rate, damages, compliance, innovative ideas, and cost are some examples.
Summary
Disruptions in the supply chain are undesirable. It’s not just that they cost the company time and resources, though those are significant. The unfavorability stems from the impact on the company’s customers.
What are some common disruptions in your supply chain?
One of your primary responsibilities as a supply chain or sourcing manager is to prevent disruptions. Particularly artificial disruptions. One of the most effective approaches is to develop an effective sourcing strategy.
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