Just over two years into the pandemic, the impacts on supply chains have been unprecedented. Serious imbalances between supply and demand that are experienced throughout the world, the availability and cost of the labor force, the capacity of transport, semi drivers, in addition to empty containers and storage space are part of the consequences that will continue to be areas of uncertainty this year.
New waves of coronavirus infection appear globally at all times, and the social and economic future may be even more volatile. However, new patterns in supply chains are also on the horizon. Below, Infor, a global leader in industry-specific cloud business software, outlines the patterns logistics will face in 2022 and beyond.
1) The problem of container ships will continue in 2022:
The current congestion and delays are global issues in the supply chain network that will continue throughout this year. Issues related to port labor, truck labor, truck unloading and container availability coupled with rising freight volumes out of Asia, burden ships and port movements.
2) Increasing the resilience of supply chains:
As disruptions continue to increase, the need to increase the resilience of supply chains is key for businesses. To do this, they must prioritize investment in cutting-edge technology and relationships with specialists in the logistics sector.
The pursuit of lowering costs alone will need to be replaced with new goals in holistic, multi-dimensional ways to achieve greater visibility on issues such as supplier job capacity, financial health, supply chain progress, as well as real-time visibility. of inventory in transit.
Resilience demands improved monitoring for better reaction times when issues arise within global transportation or supplier networks. Thus, success in delivering products to customers depends on achieving greater control and flexibility.
3) Long-term projections and trends of global supply chains:
The higher costs in ocean and air shipping will remain even as current congestion and capacity constraints are resolved. In addition, according to Infor, the markets’ traditional high season will start earlier and be longer, while cargo contracts will operate for shorter periods.
Furthermore, more freight shippers will share dynamic cargo capacity forecasting needs with their major carriers. The foregoing, to improve the general planning of the charging network.
Similarly, more C-suite executives will pursue logistics and distribution strategies, emphasizing uncertainty reduction along with cost management to protect production lines, customer experience and business profitability.
In that sense, as the uncertainty and challenges brought by the pandemic have become the new normal for supply chain professionals, Infor says there is an urgent need to improve technology and tools for supply chain management.
diarioti.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.