resilient supply chain Archives - LMA-Consulting Group, a supply chain consulting firm

Top 10 Trends to Shape Cold Food Chain in 2024

admin — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 21:49:22 +0000

Lisa Anderson was quoted in Food Logistics’ Top 10 Trends to Shape Cold Food Chain in 2024 recently. With the help of some supply chain visibility, sustainable measures, more focus on people and the ability to pivot at a moment’s notice, 2024 is anyone’s and everyone’s game to succeed.

Top trends to watch in 2024

Nearshoring, risk mitigation and building resiliency. The top supply chain trends to watch in 2024 include a keen focus on mitigating supply chain risk, reshoring and nearshoring to source reliable production closer to customers, finding backup sources of supply, creating resiliency in the end-to-end supply chain, digitizing the supply chain, and keeping an eye on cybersecurity threats, according to Lisa Anderson, president, LMA Consulting Group, Inc.

“Since there is heightened risk in the global supply chain due to geopolitics, conflicts over natural resources, ongoing concerns related to the Russia-Ukraine war, South China Seas, new threats in the Suez Canal related to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Panama Canal issues related to drought, and concerns about natural disasters, labor negotiations/labor shortages, and cyber threats, smart executives are taking control,” she adds.

Sustainability. Despite all of the challenges and disruptions the supply chain industry faces, sustainability still remains a key trend for 2024, especially as companies race to deliver on their net-zero commitments by 2030.

“In many sectors, Scope 3 emissions can account for up to 80% of a company’s total emissions. Lowering Scope 3 presents one of the most significant opportunities for decarbonization, and the industry will look for opportunities to gain operational efficiencies,” Gerdeman says. “For example, our clients are using our analytics to optimize the mode, route, and equipment selection for temperature-sensitive goods, saving money by protecting products from freezing or spoilage, reducing refrigeration costs when cold blankets do the trick, reducing fuel costs, and lowering their carbon emissions.”

In fact, global food and beverage production accounts for roughly 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and according to the Food and Agricultural Organization, the food and beverage supply chain is on track to become the industry’s largest polluter. OXFAM found that the emissions of 10 of the largest food and beverage fleets equaled the total emissions of all Scandinavian countries combined.

State of transportation

The driver shortage still exists, diesel fuel costs are still on the rise and U.S. container imports continue to experience an uptick month-over-month.

The Yellow Freight bankruptcy also created a ripple effect on the industry, one that is still somewhat being felt.

“Customers had to scramble, opportunities arose for competitors, and the supply chain evolved,” Anderson says. “Similarly, the threat of a potential rail strike and West Coast port strike caused customers to transition to alternate modes of transportation and pursue alternate routes. The same is occurring with the UPS strike and the UAW strike as supply chains are moving to account for these types of issues.”

State of e-commerce

E-commerce in grocery didn’t really become a thing until COVID-19 forced several supermarkets and grocery retailers to create a B2C arm of their business almost overnight.

Fast forward to what will be 4 years later, and the rise of e-commerce in grocery is here to stay.

Similarly, B2B channels are also growing.

“For example, cold chain needs will explode as computer chip capacity comes online with the expansion of manufacturing with the CHIPS Act,” says Anderson. “Thus, cold chains are expanding at a rapid rate and will continue to thrive in 2024. Cold storage is limited, and even though there are inflationary pressures escalating the cost to build cold storage facilities, growth will be robust. Innovation will be essential to meeting these needs in a way that will provide customer value in a sustainable and profitable manner in 2024.”

What’s to come in 2024?

While 2023 may have been the Year of Bottlenecks, 2024 opens the door to longevity, peace and prosperity.

Yet to achieve those elements, companies must be more proactive, more agile and more forward-thinking.

“Instead of being reactive, forward-thinking executives are making the shift to being proactive. Thus, they are setting up a resilient supply chain with the ability to scale up/ down quickly, utilize backup sources of supply, alternate logistics and transportation providers and routes, and educating a cross-functional workforce. They are also rolling out proactive and predictive demand and supply planning programs such as SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning), forward positioning of inventory and capacity, and predictive analytics. As no client has enough high-skilled talent, the best organizations are automating, digitizing, and using robotics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, IoT and the metaverse (AR/VR) to best utilize limited resources while supplying customer needs,” says Anderson.

Read the full article here

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Forging a Crisis-Proof Supply Chain: The Rise of a More Innovative, More Resilient Industry

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 15:19:55 +0000

Despite all of our hopes for a post-COVID future, in 2022, the world did not return to normal. New disruptions slowed the recovery significantly and inflation created new complications. According to a 2022 report from Interos, supply chain interruptions have cost companies an average of $182 million in lost revenue this year.

Yet there is an upshot to these continuing challenges: By revealing the cracks in the global supply network—all at once—the past two years have spurred a period of tremendous change and transformation. This special report discusses the path forward. Specifically, it talks about how resiliency isn’t optional, organizations must act globally and locally, discusses technical innovations that build resilience, and points out key points related to ESG and embedding sustainability into the supply chain.

Lisa Anderson contributed expertise to the report.

Read the full report here.

Originally published on Warner Communications in February of 2023

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Sales Forecasts are Rising Fast. Do You Have Capacity?

admin — Thu, 06 May 2021 19:07:47 +0000

Clients are growing quickly. No matter the industry and company size, clients and colleagues are seeing growth. The only question is how quickly and whether they can keep up. Capacity constraints are popping up everywhere. On the logistics front, Southern California has no available space; the ports are backlogged, prices are rising and 3PLs are maxed out. On the manufacturing front, having enough capacity (machines, people, specific skillsets, technology, supply etc.) is quite the battle and disruptions abound. What are you doing to get in front of this situation?

What Should We Consider and/or What Impacts Could Arise?

If you aren’t already increasing capacity rapidly, do NOT wait any longer! Customers are seeing hefty increases across-the-board. These facts sum up the situation:

E-commerce and drop ships continue to increase at a rapid pace, and every expert believes it will continue to do so.
Industries/ business segments that boomed during the pandemic continue at a robust pace – volumes remain high and customers are replenishing inventory levels.
Customers caught without inventory in the pandemic are more likely to increase safety stock to minimize customer risk. Others are over ordering as an over-reaction.
Previously depressed business segments in the U.S. are starting to take off as almost all states are starting to open up and vaccinated people gain confidence.

What should you do?

Bring on excess capacity in critical areas
Supplement your internal capacity with external capacity to address surges
Develop relationships and partnerships BEFORE you need the capacity. This requires you start ordering from your partner even when you don’t need the capacity so that your partner will be available when you need to cover surge capacity.
Check in with your suppliers and alliance partners – are they ready to surge? By 20%? 50%? Where is the limit?
Do your suppliers and trusted advisors see you as a preferred customer? Would they choose you if they have more options than they can serve?
Have you preordered critical raw materials?
Do you have cross-training programs in place?
Do you need to supplement your teams with external expertise?
Do you have metrics in place to alert you to changing conditions and trends?
Are you forecasting demand, planning capacity and aligning the team on changing conditions? If not, think about implementing sales, inventory & operations planning programs (SIOP).

Read more about these types of topics in my eBook, Emerging Above & Beyond: 21 Insights for 2021 from Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Technology Experts. Gain ideas and strategies to scale successfully. If you are interested in gaining an expert assessment and path forward tailored to your company, please contact us.

Please share your stories, challenges, ideas and successes.

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SAP Insights: For Resilient Supply Chains, Think Local

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 18:46:29 +0000

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Charmin toilet paper, was prepared for thousands of scenarios – including earthquakes, fires, and cybersecurity attacks – but not for a disruption greater in magnitude than all three combined: a global pandemic.

As COVID-19 spread throughout the United States in March, panicked shoppers snapped up what precious paper products they could find. Meanwhile, P&G’s “just-in-time” manufacturing and distribution operations meant it had no more than two or three weeks’ worth of toilet paper to sell.

Other U.S.-based paper goods manufacturers, along with makers of hand sanitizers and cleaning products, experienced similar shortages, not only due to the unanticipated and extraordinary demand, but also because of their heavy reliance on overseas suppliers. P&G had, in fact, warned investors in February that virus-induced factory shutdowns in China, where it had nearly 400 suppliers shipping more than 9,000 materials, would affect more than 17,000 products.

As shipments of products worldwide slowed or stopped entirely, it soon became clear that global supply chains had snapped. Companies everywhere were in trouble. But not every business.

The vulnerability of global supply chains

For the past few decades, global supply chains worked because they were mostly reliable and cost effective. Plentiful, cheap labor reduced costs, and factories became more efficient, making companies more profitable. Those years were stable, too. GDP grew steadily and with few supply or demand shocks. But as chaos reverberated through the pandemic-stricken world, businesses soon learned that their reliance on the trusty global model had actually increased their risk in ways that few had considered.

“No one was looking at the risk of having all of their sources of supply coming from Asia,” says Lisa Anderson, president of Claremont, CA-based LMA Consulting Group, Inc. and manufacturing expert known for creating supply chain resiliency.

Full Story

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Coronavirus and Impacts in the Supply Chain

admin — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 17:31:50 +0000

February 17, 2020

I was talking with a Los Angeles Times reporter about the coronavirus a few days ago, and it spurred several thoughts about down-the-line impacts beyond the obvious. According to the Epoch Times, the coronavirus impacts will hit within the next few months. This makes perfect sense since lead times are typically between 2-3 months for our clients; thus, current shutdowns will start impacting in a few months. Although you should obviously spring to action if impacted, you should be thinking about future-proofing your supply chain regardless!

Listen to my video about the coronavirus, establishing backup plans and future-proofing your supply chain. I’d love to hear about your situations, your ideas and plans so we can exchange ideas. Please email me.

What Should We Consider and/or What Impacts Could Arise?
As discussed in the video, unfortunately, most of the time, it is “too late” when disasters strike. Whether it’s the coronavirus, a hurricane, or political unrest, if products and services are held up, there is little you can do if you haven’t future-proofed you’re manufacturing and created a resilient supply chain. When I was a VP of Operations and Supply Chain for a mid-market manufacturer, our main production facility was shut down due to a hurricane. Thank goodness, the plant wasn’t harmed because it was built on a hill; however, because no one could get in or out (employees, suppliers, customers), we were shut down for several days. Fortunately, there were some backup plans in place although we were still affected.

A few years later, there were port disruptions in getting a critical raw material from our supplier in Brazil. It would have created a disaster for our customers as well as our end customers (patients in hospitals and at home care) if we didn’t have a backup plan in place. Fortunately, our proactive Director of Procurement kept a backup supplier on the east coast who turned up production as soon as he called. The reason the supplier did this is because we constantly purchased from the backup supplier (even though they were more expensive which our private equity backers weren’t very thrilled about), and they knew the reason we were purchasing from them was for just this type of situation since we were upfront and consistent. Are you willing to invest in backup plans?

Start by re-evaluating your manufacturing and supply chain road map and think through related impacts. These topics certainly relate to our new LMA-i, LMA-Intelligence series including the Amazon Effect, the Resilient Supply Chain and Future-Proofing and contact us if you’d like an assessment path-forward plan to accelerate your bottom line and customer performance.

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Do You Have a Resilient Supply Chain?

admin — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 14:23:19 +0000

There is extreme volatility in today’s end-to-end supply chain. To be successful, you need a resilient supply chain. Are you keeping up with all the changes? For example, think about the following:

Tariffs & trade impacts
Data & security breaches
The Amazon Effect
New technologies such as 3D printing
Natural disasters, port strikes and more

The Resilient Supply Chain
Instead of allowing each of these incidents to impact you, we must create a resilient supply chain. Are you proactively thinking about these topics?

Agility– Instead of seeing agile as an IT or project management concept, we should be thinking about how to incorporate agility into every step / every piece of our end-to-end supply chain. If a customer changes his mind, are we flexible enough to handle it?
Speed – Is your supply chain set up for speed? Customers are unwilling to wait. I’ve found that I’m unwilling to wait anymore. If I wait for a trusted advisor, service provider, subcontractor or even a client, it delays LMA Consulting. For us to be on the leading edge with clients, we must be ahead of the curve; not waiting for something that will be obsolete before we get it! That is one thing we appreciate about our webmaster; he is speedy and understands priorities which is how we are able to announce a major content upgrade (thanks Scott).
Predictive – In today’s complex world, we must also be predictive so that we are prepared from an 80/20 standpoint for the most likely unexpected events, trends and bumps in the road. Thinking three steps ahead can go a long way in creating resilience.
Collaborative – One of key components to creating a resilient supply chain with multiple partners is to collaborate. There is no time to establish relationships and find ways to navigate volatility together if you haven’t already set a collaborative tone.
Adaptive team – No doubt; the core to resilience is having an adaptive team where each members understands where he/she is headed and feels empowered to handle obstacles as they arise.

Have you thought about each interrelated partner, piece or parameter in your end-to-end supply chain? How can you set it up to be resilient?

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Walmart & Costco Moving Towards Farmer-to-Shopping Cart Strategies

admin — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 20:04:32 +0000

The squeeze continues. During my Aerospace & Defense speech recently on the Resilient Supply Chain, the concept of vertical integration arose as Boeing and Airbus are expanding and squeezing the middle in a noteworthy fashion. Similarly, according to Journal Star Walmart and Costco are moving to eliminate the middleman by moving towards farmer-to-shopping cart strategies.

Walmart started bottling milk in its new Indiana facility. This move eliminated Dean Foods and their 100 dairy farmers and replaced them with 30 farmers and cooperatives. Walmart is controlling the entire supply chain from farm to shopping cart including transportation, a vertical integration strategy rarely seen to this extent and scale in agriculture. Similarly, Costco established a chicken farm to grow, slaughter and distribute chickens in Nebraska, eliminating suppliers like Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride. Both of these initiatives could create significant disruption as well as opportunity.

Are you staying comfortable, waiting to be disrupted or taking the proactive approach to create disruption?

What Should We Consider and/or What Impacts Could Arise?

Getting to the top and/or to a comfortable position and riding the wave isn’t a viable strategy if you wish to be around for the long-term. Stay up-to-speed on what is going on with your industry, competitors, customers, suppliers, region and more. Don’t hide your head in the sand. Instead, choose to take the realistic yet optimistic view and turn it into reality.

In addition, start looking at how to build an agile and resilient end-to-end supply chain. There is no telling when your supply chain might be squeezed or something will change. The more agile and resilient you become, the more successful you’ll be! If you’d like some tips for managing disruption, take a look at our resilient supply chain series.

March 26, 2019

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The Resilient Supply Chain: Succeeding in the Amazon Era

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 19:47:35 +0000

Published on Mar 23, 2019

According LMA Consulting Group’s research study, The Amazon Effect: How Higher Customer Service Standards Impact Your Business and What You Can Do to Thrive, customers are no longer satisfied with quality products delivered on-time; instead, they want rapid delivery, “go the extra mile” partnership type service and collaborative R&D/ design said Supply Chain Expert and Consultant, Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD President of LMA Consulting Group.

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Resilient Supply Chain: At the Cross-Section of Success

admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:39:34 +0000

In thinking back to the tours and events we’ve participated in, spoke at or led in the last 30 days, it provides a great cross-section of manufacturing and logistics industries and company sizes:

Professional Women in Healthcare – spoke on the Amazon Effect
Aerospace & Defense Forum – spoke on the resilient supply chain.
Anti-seminar themed Executive Luncheon – was a panelist on the topic of increasing demand
CSCMP state of the industry event – listened to the president of CSCMP discuss the latest statistics and timely topics in logistics
ProVisors manufacturers and distributors event featuring a City National Bank expert discussing an economic forecast
The Founder of UGG brand talking about how he created the UGG brand and grew the company from the back of his van to what it is today
Tours of UPS, Amazon, Pacific Mountain Logistics, Shamrock Foods, Goodwill, Lifestream, ESRI and more.
Meetings with 9 academic institutions in the Inland Empire and surrounding areas
Harvey Mudd executive roundtable event on M&A and preparing for sale.
Webinars with APICS-IE on IoT and with the Society for the Advancement of Consulting on overcoming obstacles, leveraging PR and more.
And more…

So, what is at the cross-section of ALL of these tours, events and/or interactions?

The need for a resilient end-to-end supply chain!

What is in common is the sheer amount of volatility and disruption. Whether the disruptor or the disrupted, entire industries are transforming the way business is done. Some are preparing to have artificial intelligence and automation take over. For example, according to research performed at the University of Redlands, 60%+ of jobs are subject to automation by 2025. Others are dealing with massive benefits or disruption from changes in trade, depending on their role while others choose to ignore the hoopla and are growing while everyone else is caught up in the chaos! And this is just the beginning. Trade wars or not, many companies are near-sourcing, and looking at additive manufacturing and vertical integration. What’s next? If you develop a resilient supply chain, the idea is you don’t have to worry because you’ll successfully navigate disruption to achieve peak performance. Contact us if you’d like to find out how to create a resilient supply chain.

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Press Release: Manufacturing & Supply Chain Expert Lisa Anderson Predicts Resilient Supply Chain Key to 2019 Manufacturing Success

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 15:26:34 +0000

CLAREMONT, Calif., Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Manufacturing and Supply Chain Expert Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD, president of LMA Consulting Group Inc., predicts that manufacturing will be a top economic force in 2019. Key to the success will be creating a resilient supply chain.

“Economic volatility and uncertainty are the new normal. Instead of lamenting, clients should take advantage of the opportunity. There has never been a better time to stand out from the crowd with a superior customer experience amidst the chaos,” Ms. Anderson commented. LMA Consulting Group works with clients on manufacturing strategy and end-to-end supply chain transformation that maximizes the customer experience and enables profitable, scalable, dramatic business growth. The firm also conducts research to help clients predict future trends and embrace key priorities to succeed.

“Not only has the Amazon Effect driven customers to expect customized product and service offerings with rapid response, creating a greater demand for local manufacturing, it has also made innovation a cultural norm. Drones, robotics, IOT, artificial Intelligence, big data predictive analytics and additive manufacturing are transforming entire industries while providing the tools to create a customer-centric, resilient supply chain,” she said. LMA predicts that creating a resilient supply chain that navigates disruptions and provides a superior customer experience will be key to achieving peak performance.

Based on client engagements and research, LMA has identified 5 areas that manufacturers must address to be successful in 2019. It starts with superior customer service, and continues by taking a holistic, full circle view of the business. Understanding and preparing for volatility as the new normal will become foundational, whereas leveraging the collective power of the end-to-end supply chain and manufacturing capabilities will emerge as a critical priority, culminating in the need to create a resilient supply chain to be agile in these tumultuous yet exciting times that are ripe with opportunity.

“Manufacturing is on the forefront of breakthroughs every day. From making the latest medication to cure cancer to customizing an engine part that will transform space exploration, manufacturing is uniquely positioned to have a lasting impact on our economy and our lives. For those who embrace the opportunity, the rewards will be tremendous,” Ms. Anderson concluded.

About LMA Consulting Group – Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP, CLTD
Lisa Anderson is the founder and president of LMA Consulting Group, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in manufacturing strategy and end-to-end supply chain transformation. She focuses on maximizing the customer experience and enabling profitable, scalable, dramatic business growth Ms. Anderson has been named a Top 40 B2B Tech Influencer by arketi group, a 50 ERP Influencer by Washington-Frank, ranked in the top 46 most influential in Supply Chain by SAP and named a top woman influencer by Solutions Review. She recently published, I’ve Been Thinking, an inspiring collection of 101 strategies for creating bold customer promises and profits. A regular content contributor on topics including providing a superior customer experience with SIOP, advancing innovation and making the supply chain resilient, Ms. Anderson is regularly interviewed and quoted by publications such as Industry Week, tED magazine and the Wall Street Journal. For information, to sign up for her Profit Through People^TM Newsletter or for a copy of her book, visit lma-consultinggroup.com.

Media Contact
Kathleen McEntee | Kathleen McEntee & Associates, Ltd. | p. (760) 262 – 4080 | 207843@email4pr.com

Originally published on PR Newswire on January 17, 2019

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