3 Ways to Mitigate Supply Chain Slowdowns

As the supply chain faces factory closures and limited access to employees and logistics to move goods amid the COVID-19 outbreak, leaders can help ease disruption by focusing on their workforce, products, and costs. Gartner recommends:

1. Support Your Workforce

To limit the impact of COVID-19, governments and employers instructed many employees to stay at home. For factories, this resulted in goods not being produced or exported to dependent markets or other factories.

Supply chain leaders must figure out how to protect workers’ health and support those who become ill. Providing clear and consistent communication through your human resources department as well as travel security is essential, Gartner says.

2. Reassess Product Availability

Suppliers of commoditized products risk losing market share, as customers will search for substitute suppliers when they don’t receive their products on time, Gartner says. Products associated with a higher degree of brand loyalty are likely to feel less of an impact in the short term, because their customers are more willing to wait.

Supply chain leaders must analyze the impact of COVID-19 on customer demand and product availability, and trade off based on high-revenue, in-demand products.

3. Analyze Costs and plan ahead

Any additional cost related to COVID-19 should be treated as an organization-wide issue. This makes it easier to assess the costs against the organization’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives and manage stakeholder expectations, according to Gartner.

Meet with your legal team and make sure that your organization is financially protected against similar situations in the future.