Faced with a rail strike or tensions in Asia , companies looking to ensure resiliency in supply chains should take a strategic look at what goes into the production of finished goods and what may impact their ability to fill customer orders . Such a topdown review involves examining all aspects of a manufacturing process to see what raw materials or parts are essential ingredients that could be cut off by a disruption in rail , air , or trucking tied to geopolitical or labor issues . Ideally , this cataloging of key ingredients is carried out regularly , and managers routinely review component families and inventory classifications to map out vulnerabilities in a supply chain ,
assigning a risk score to each part . Can a mold for a product be moved to another location , and how quickly will machinery need to be retooled to fulfill orders at another location ?
Increasing your safety stock to weather unforeseen challenges
In some cases , managers will want to reconsider how they view ‘ safety stock ’ and increase inventories of essential parts or ingredients for their manufacturing process to mitigate risk . For example , companies dependent on freight rail for plastic pellets or resin – used in seat belts and cell phones – will want to keep an extra railcar or two on site to ensure a strike doesn ’ t slow plant production .
Companies may have become more complacent after the end of the Cold War when geopolitical
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