What keeps most supply chain managers up at night is the fear of making wrong decisions. Decisions would be easy if we knew the outcomes were guaranteed. It’s the unknown that is hard. What if the worst happens?
We certainly have had a lot of unknowns during the past year. Between a booming stock market, uneven tariff policies, and the controversy surrounding artificial intelligence (AI is either a transformative innovation or the beginning of the end of humanity), we have all faced a lot of uncertainty, bringing anxiety and increasing fear. Fear itself can be paralyzing. It can stop us cold while we wait for clarity. But when we are too afraid to move, we actually fall further behind.
We’ve all been in a state of uncertainty for the better part of five years now. It started during the pandemic and has continued with roller-coaster economic policies. We can now safely say that uncertainty really is the new normal. We may never go back to what we knew before. We can only adapt and move on.
As one of the best mentors I ever had once told me: There are very few decisions you make that cannot either be reversed or later adapted to achieve an acceptable outcome.
Making no decision at all is usually worse than making the wrong decision initially. If you’re sitting on the sidelines, you may find that the game is being played without you. It is now time to pick a lane.
Most supply chain managers need to make investments to adapt to the new normal. Companies have cash but are sitting on it due to the uncertainty. Yet that investment is needed now for systems and equipment that will boost productivity and reduce future costs.
So where do you start? If you don’t already have effective warehouse management, transportation management, and labor management systems, those are good places to begin.
Supply chain visibility systems, forecasting tools, and AI (artificial intelligence) integrations that can provide clarity into operations and alert users to changing conditions are also wise investments. Installing flexible automated equipment can also bring a big payoff. Think of easily adaptable and scalable systems, such as autonomous mobile robots, voice picking systems, and goods-to-person fulfillment technologies, that offer solid performance and productivity. Software-as-a-service and robots-as-a-service models offer users options for scaling their operations easily without large capital commitments.
But whatever you do, don’t go it alone. Find trusted partners who understand your business and can offer a range of options to help assure that your decisions pay off now and in the future.
