Handling Inventory Surges - Sobel Network Shipping Co., Inc.

Handling Inventory Surges

Are your product sales burgeoning? Then, hopefully, your product line is actively meeting the demand, and your CFO has expressed pride in the company’s weekly revenue increases.  However, a booming business can spell doom if the supply chain is unprepared to meet the demand. The overcall consequences to the company can be devastating as customers lose confidence. Your business can quickly grind to a halt and find itself on the path towards eventual bankruptcy if you cannot meet the demand.

When your product line is flowing rapidly, and the products are coasting out the door in impressive record time, things are good. However, without a distribution plan in place and partners you can depend on, this might not be the case, and you will be unable to handle the surge.

Predicable Supply Chain Surges

Seasonal surges are easy to predict. Things like Christmas trees and pool chemicals are predictable and mundane. Your distribution strategy is probably more than capable of meeting seasonal surges with predictability. You have probably spent years safeguarding against such demand, so you are confident that your supply chain can handle things. However, sometimes unexpected surges happen, such as those experienced as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to release its stranglehold on the world, and things are returning to normal.

Supply and Demand

Businesses are now struggling to meet supply and demand. In such a situation, you might not be ready for the surge. You must have a cohesive warehousing plan along with a distribution strategy. You will want to use technology to meet the demand.

Pandemic Impact on Surges

Pandemic disruption has impacted many industries. Product demands have started to fluctuate, and capacity constraints have loomed large. Most people know about the surge in toilet paper and computers that rolled out with the pandemic. The run on supplies took a toll on supply chains and revealed weaknesses. The demand for at-home schooling supplies such as personal computers revealed the most robust growth in decades. Sadly, distribution facilities were not prepared. Capacity could not be met, and storage became an issue.

Forging Partnerships to Handle the Surge

The importance of partnership with transportation and distribution providers that provided truck capacity and warehouse space became particularly important and helped many companies avoid delays and disruption. In the last year, partnerships are a necessity, and companies should avoid thinking they can wing it solo.

When picking the ideal partner, you will want to look at order fulfillment, delivery times, and how to maintain happy customers. The key to everything is communication which will drive efficiencies within the supply chain. Discussions can open the doors to potential distribution and fulfillment solutions so you can not only meet your immediate needs but also focus on future goals and solutions. You want to create a successful supply chain solution that can handle the present, and future inventory surges no matter what the cause.