Pervasive Outsourcing and Globalization Expose Supply Chain Risks

When most people think of supply chain risks, they usually imagine hurricanes, floods, geopolitical issues, and other “major” events—but supply chain risks actually come in all shapes and sizes. Today’s increasingly complex supply chains must cope with literally hundreds of unplanned events every day. Single, small events may seem manageable, but when added together, these disruptions represent a significant threat to your competitiveness. Inability to deal with such issues in a timely and efficient way can mean the difference between profit and loss.

“Nearly three-quarters of companies (73 percent) believe their supply chain risk has risen since 2005; nearly the same number (71 percent) believe the financial impact of disruptions to their supply chain has also grown.”

“Stemming the Rising Tide of Supply Chain Risks: How Risk Managers’ Roles and Responsibilities Are Changing” | Marsh, Inc.’s Supply Chain Risk Management Practice

Unfortunately, most companies still can’t proactively manage day-to-day risks simply because they don’t have effective tools to do so. Often these organizations have spent years developing systems, processes, and staff to run the business like clockwork—then find themselves caught off guard when the business does not run smoothly after all. Warning signs include declining operations performance and poor customer satisfaction. These in turn may ultimately lead to the erosion of market share and the proliferation of spreadsheets to actually run the business.

Is your company finding it difficult to consistently beat the competition and meet your objectives? If the answer is yes, it’s likely that volatility plays a major role. Think about your company’s responsiveness to change, then consider whether you’ve given your front-line decision makers the tools they need to effectively manage volatility throughout your supply chain.

Supply Chain Risk Management Requires Fast Response

Though most organizations have a centralized planning process, the response process is decentralized by its very nature. Your front-line responders need to be empowered to act quickly and decisively when things fail to go according to plan.

To effectively manage supply chain risks both large and small, you must arm your team with the right supply chain risk management tools—tools that can deal with a wide variety of supply chain issues in a timely, cost-effective manner.

And that’s exactly what Kinaxis™ RapidResponse™ provides.

• RapidResponse begins by delivering a single version of the truth to all stakeholders—allowing them to accurately evaluate supply and demand liability throughout the supply chain.
• RapidResponse offers powerful, easy-to-use simulation capabilities to help users quickly analyze supply chain risks and collaborate with all participants about possible course corrections. For example, you can create scenarios projecting what would happen if a supplier was suddenly unable to deliver, if a strike limited production capacity at the last minute, if demand spiked or fell off by 20 percent, or a wide range of other possibilities.
• AlwaysOn Analytics provide immediate feedback on the specific supply chain risk implications of each simulation, allowing teams to speedily assess the situation and evaluate various options to handle it.

RapidResponse uniquely meets the demanding needs of today’s supply chain risk management process. It goes well beyond plan development to help you formulate fast, profitable responses to plan deviations as they occur. RapidResponse offers solutions for:

• Operations performance monitoring and alerts
• Multi-enterprise supply chain visibility
• Inventory reduction and rationalization
• Data integrity management

Follow the links to learn how RapidResponse delivers value to your business and value to IT.