Supply Chain Resiliency – Our Thoughts

The Future of Distributors and the Resiliency of Supply Chains Through Crisis is a common topic nowadays. The pandemic of Covid-19 has put stress on medical supply chains as no one has ever seen before. The future of distributors and their ability to cope with this crisis will determine how they will hold up in the future. Will there be a second wave of Covid-19? If so, will the supply chain be able to continue to distribute an appropriate amount of supplies to hospitals and doctors?

Should the second wave of Covid-19 hit or perhaps another type of pandemic, the current supply chain can remain resilient by pushing for the following goals.

Make the Supply Chain Visible

Even during normal production of supplies, making the supply chain visible is going to be a point of success. When a disruption in the supply chain occurs, it can easily become clear when the supply chain is visible. This means that routes can be changed or new action can be taken with immediate information. 

How can the supply chain be made visible? This is possible in the following ways:

• Move from Paper to Digital Records
  Paper records currently dominate almost every aspect of supply chains. From detailed lists of the cargo to packing lists from each carrier and so on, the “Bill of Lading” is long and can be pages deep. Even though this Bill of Lading might be required to be in paper format by law, other suppliers have not deemed it worthy to digitize either due to reasons of security or not justifying enough efficiency with the process.
  
  However, with a serious interruption like what has been seen with Covid-19, physical presence to sign a paper or shuffle it around has been impossible in some situations. Oftentimes, wet signatures and printouts that are handled by operations personnel must walk them into an office or physical location to complete the coordination of the supplies. This becomes disrupted easily and the visibility of the supply chain collapses for a variety of reasons and conditions. Reacting to these disruptions quickly and efficiently becomes impossible.
  
  When you forgo the cost of digitizing these records, you see the risk of a collapsing supply chain give this process value. With digital records, the points of failure can be quickly managed. Currently, businesses and aspects of the government using e-signatures and e-transactions are not falling through the holes.  
• Data Privacy for Suppliers
  Keeping data private is important for suppliers. If they make all their transactions and manufacturers public, they can easily lose their commercial advantage, while their customers learn about their operations, pricing and sourcing. It would be completely unfair for the general public or even competitors to be privy to this information. It is therefore important for suppliers to be in charge of this sensitive information and who has access to it.
  
  Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Excel spreadsheets is where most digital communication in the supply chain occurs. This can easily be controlled between the two parties exchanging data. However, when the data here needs to be distributed to more parties, independent and auditable access controls cannot be given to each individual party. The answer then is a decentralized system, which would be owned by a large buyer, that could give suppliers the privacy they desire and buyers can still have the visibility they need.  
• Implement Initiatives Now
  Discovering a new problem and then creating an initiative to reduce this issue simply takes time. The best way to overcome a timing issue is to implement initiatives right now. Implementing supply chain finance programs to help support supply chains dealing with financial issues is one way to address this problem. Sharing data and receiving incentives is one way to approach this implementation. 

Final Thoughts on the Future of Distributors

There is a lot to learn and understand about the supply chain as it deals with the pandemic of Covid-19. This information can be used to the advantage of all parties in the supply chain. The move to digitize records, implement initiatives, and keep data private is at the top of the list. The resiliency of the system will depend on the supply chain heeding to these changes to the process. Evolution is necessary for the success of the future for distributors.