New technologies are disruptive in many ways. We anticipate new tech shortage impacts will create continued competition with other industry sectors for the supply of key technology components.
The world has largely moved on from the immediate shortage impacts of the 2020 shutdowns triggered by COVID-19, but the lessons for supply chains persist. The abrupt nature of the global response highlighted several critical areas where technology supply chains can improve. This need is only heightened by the ever-growing demands of new technologies.
When an extremely wide range of products from consumer to industrial are dependent on highly specialized technologies, specific manufacturers are in high demand. We’ve discussed before how sourcing the components needed for modern tech can create pressure on supply from just a few manufacturers. This specialization in components of modern tech can result in a lack of diversity in a supply chain, and bring major global impacts when shortages hit.
Designing a more flexible supply chain to counter shortage impacts of new tech
With the increasing demand for highly complex components, we expect new tech will continue to drive competition in the supply chain with existing industries and, thereby, further impact shortages. Designing a more flexible supply chain is possible — and necessary to succeed in this new environment. Now is the time to start.
Integrate risk management to sharpen your response time
Risk management is critical to keeping any supply chain healthy. By addressing risk head-on, you can rapidly respond to anomalies or non-conformance issues. Using an independent distributor that can offer you a risk-based approach to screening components provides an extra layer of security and quality control in your procurement. When demand is high, you can’t afford to risk sourcing compromised or counterfeit parts. The unfortunate reality is the shortage market drives opportunistic actors to take advantage of those caught behind on sourcing. Risk-based screening of parts adds an important layer of security during times of shortage.
Enhance your supply chain visibility
Supply chain visibility can significantly improve your inventory management. By implementing visibility tools, you’ll have better capacity for analytics and real-time updates. An enhanced ability to view your supply chain provides insights into problems like shipping failures. Supply chain partnerships can offer 3rd-party integration, real time updates, and multi-modal tracking. All of this together yields insight that can make your supply chain more flexible and responsive to competition from new tech and its shortage impacts.
Lessen new tech impacts on shortages with supply chain forecasting
Electronic components forecasting ensures that you have what you need, when you need it. Forecasting is often more of an art than a science, beginning with finding the right method. Whether you use supply, demand, or pricing to forecast, metrics can provide insight into your sourcing. Benefits include supporting strong supplier partnerships, optimizing your inventory, and overall ensuring a more efficient allocation of resources in your organization. Supply chain forecasting is best done with a significant depth and breadth of market intelligence to back it up, making this area ripe for outsourcing to an independent partner.
Bottom line: Improving visibility and management of essential supply chain processes can mitigate new tech shortage impacts.
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