global challenges of commodity shortages and container and vessel capacity constraints . Nevertheless , it focused on expanding its supplier base , supply chain visibility , and on strengthening its bonds with partners and customers . “ The biggest lesson we learned from managing unforeseen supply chain issues was the importance of collaboration , with both supply chain partners , and our customers ,” Tanja admits . “ We knew we would be working in a constrained environment and that information was key . Therefore , we moved our Sales and Operations Planning ( S & OP ) from a monthly to a weekly cadence and our Sales and Operations Execution ( S & OE ) from a weekly to daily model , working up demand scenarios on an ongoing basis through the different waves of the pandemic .

“ To meet the growing demand for medical products following the outbreak of Covid-19 , we re-evaluated our entire supply chain ,” she goes on . “ We changed sourcing practices to limit our geographic concentration and expanded our self-manufacturing capabilities to increase production capacity of isolation gowns , surgical , procedural masks , and face shields .

“ We utilized predictive analytics , with support from a local university , to develop additional visibility tools and enable a better and faster flow of information to our customers ,” Tanja adds . “ Our pipeline of initiatives was reviewed , deprioritizing some to enable focus on immediate customer needs . We invested in the Kinaxis RapidResponse platform to increase medical product visibility , thereby allowing us to view our entire supply chain in real time to proactively mitigate and minimize potential impacts . Our ability to support our customers was a direct result of fast decision-making , and the immediate

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