The Current Supply Chain Landscape and the Bullwhip Effect
After a long-standing global pandemic, inflation, and subsequent lack of resources, the waves in the water can make even the smallest reefs seem like the biggest obstacles. When the tide is high and the next Bullwhip Effect wave pushes you close to the shore, it can feel like a leisure ride. But when your company is facing the low tides of an often unpredictable supply chain market, that’s when a shipwreck can happen.
As noted by H. Lee, V. Padmanabhan and S. Whang in their article, “The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains,” inefficiencies in supply chain are caused when information is unclear and consistently distorted from one end to another. As they explain, “… poor customer service, lost revenues, misguided capacity plans, ineffective transportation, and missed production schedules” are often waters covering the rocks of supply chain disruptions.
Throw in even the smallest fluctuation in demand, suboptimal processes or an unexpected shift in inventory ranging from surplus to backorders and it’s no wonder managers are sinking from the weight of more upstream challenges than downstream ones. In other words, when demand forecasts yield supply chain insufficiencies, the waves of uncertainty can lead to devastating swings in inventory that may take months or even years to recover from financially. And in today’s current landscape, many companies find themselves quickly drowning under the weight of the waves - the Bullwhip Effect.
How to Steer Clear of Hidden Supply Chain Reefs
Most large vessels have high-end sonar systems giving them warnings of obstacles throughout their journey. The more you can see, the more you can avoid. Building transparency into every aspect of your end-to-end supply chain, from consumption patterns to manufacturing trends, allows you to work smarter and more logically, expertly steering away from dangerous supply chain reefs instead of getting stuck by them.
Simply thinking about how to wade through and ultimately steer around the murky waters of inventory levels created by sudden changes in demand is sending many CEOs on an urgent quest for a transparent, effective, and integrated supply chain solution their organizations can rely on.
With services like mSE’s Managed Services, we provide the expert navigators to steer the execution of your e2e SC strategies of tomorrow with the agility, scalability and visibility of the rapidly evolving supply chain planning landscape of today.
In addition, mSE’s What-If supply chain approach allows organizations to make informed decisions, anticipate risks and better respond to change, effectively producing quick answers to burning questions. And as mSE Solution’s Planning as a Service offers, the focus of tried-and-true expertise in operational planning with value driven results allows for the preparation of simulated options while leveraging the action plan to implement them.
Navigating Your Company to Smoother Waters with Targeted Strategies and Manifold Solutions
Targeted strategies to navigate the tumultuous waves of the Bullwhip Effect starts with understanding the composition of the water you are wading in. By identifying tribal processes, removing inefficiencies and driving growth, process integration solutions can cut through the murk and provide strategic end-to-end visibility into supply chains. Through data harmonization, planning, open platform and process orchestration, a cross-siloed approach often reveals the gaps between vendors and buyers.
The result? Transformative business processes are formulated with a dedication to high-quality customer service and transparency. Through innovative approaches like vendor managed inventory and digital adoption assessments, organizations can streamline internal operations, focus on long-term supply chain goals and altogether avoid the hidden reefs in the first place.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to navigate your company’s ship to smoother supply chain waters, pivoting to leading indicators that give sufficient warning, enabling timely reactions and supporting a more efficient response. Stop drowning from the weight of the Bullwhip Effect waves and follow a journey to less risk and better business. By identifying and mitigating disruptions while delivering more predictive supply and reduced costs to customers, end-to-end supply chain transparency will become a critical guide to your final destination of success.