Although human health disruptions fell 68% year over year, 2021 saw the most factory fires ever recorded in a single year. The uptick is mainly due to gaps in regulatory and process execution as well as a shortage of skilled labor in warehouses, the report says.

The platform sent 491 alerts for supply shortages, including semiconductor chips, plastics, paper, and raw materials. Supply shortages are driving consolidations, mergers, and business sales as companies look for a quick cash boost or optimize the supply chain to best serve their customer base, the report says.

North America experienced the most supply chain disruptions (5,417), followed by Europe (2,838) and Asia (2,128). The most impacted industries were life sciences, healthcare, automotive, high tech, and general manufacturing, says Resilinc.

TOP 6 DISRUPTION EVENTS OF 2021

1. Factory fires

2. Mergers and acquisitions

3. Business sales

4. Factory disruptions

5. Leadership transitions

6. Supply shortages

Source: www.inboundlogistics.com

Image:

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Disruptions, technology innovations, and consumer demands will persist in 2022. These are the four key trends impacting 3PLs in the coming year, the report says:

1. Supply chain disruptions will continue to plague the industry through much of 2022, creating more pressure for 3PLs to provide strategic insight into inventory and risk management and provide greater demand planning sophistication.

2. Omnichannel fulfillment will become even more prominent as companies seek to expand sales channels and leverage the same inventory to fulfill across all channels, pivoting to support where demand is highest.

3. 3PLs and 4PLs will need to collaborate with other warehouses to create integrated ecosystems that support the level of sophistication in today’s supply chain.

4. Technology is transforming rapidly, with companies shifting to more highly adaptable cloud-based software that leverages fulfillment innovations and integrates with the broader logistics ecosystem.

Source: www.inboundlogistics.com

Image: www.pixabay.com

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A burning question facing retailers is if and when customers will return to purchasing in stores similar to pre-pandemic patterns rather than buying nearly anything and everything online.

Historically, many shippers have bifurcated their buying decisions, supply chains and fulfillment strategies based on sales channels, which generally provides a lower cost basis when done well. However, to thrive today, retailers must embrace omnichannel fulfillment strategies.

Looking ahead, omnichannel optimization will be critical to current business models. Newly defined consumer behaviors will meet and synthesize with various buying patterns. In some industries and within certain demographics, e-commerce may retain its status as the primary buying channel. In some situations, however, there will be a reversion to a combined model of traditional brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce. It is crucial for retailers to be more agile to meet customer expectations within a variety of purchasing methods, whether online, a mobile phone app or in-store.

Automated fulfillment solutions support the demand for speed and accuracy. Automated technologies, such as put-to-light walls, sorters, conveyors and pack-and-apply machines, can offer faster and more efficient handling of units while reducing the demand on teammates to perform highly repetitive tasks.

The pandemic has underscored automation and robotics can provide a defensive strategy to supply chain disruptions caused by the lack of labor availability.

Here you can read opinion articles about automation and is the future really so bright as it seems.

RETHINK DELIVERY STRATEGIES

Many retailers were surprised by the capacity constraints in the parcel delivery network at the onset of the pandemic created by the influx in online orders. In the past, the emphasis was on securing the lowest cost with the best incentives, typically through one parcel provider. However, in order to best address network constraints moving forward, shippers need to adopt a more diverse delivery strategy.

For many, this means using multiple national parcel delivery carriers along with regional providers. This ensures they have the capacity to get their products to the end consumer when needed to create a satisfactory purchasing experience.

Additionally, we continue to experience capacity challenges out of Asia. The pandemic reduced capacity at a much quicker rate than the reduction of trade demand, increasing freight costs and decreasing transit reliability.

Ongoing port congestion is forcing many retailers to consider air transportation. Because passenger belly space remains lower than pre-pandemic levels due to limited international travel, retailers are renting entire cargo aircrafts to help offset capacity issues.

With this in mind, it is critical brands rethink delivery strategies. For many, this means shifting from a single-source supply chain to establishing multiple manufacturing centers with their own supply chains and delivery strategies in order to be more agile.

By embracing an omnichannel mindset, automation technologies and diverse delivery methods, brands will have the strategies in place to best navigate unexpected logistics logjams in the future.

Source: www.inboundlogistics.com

Author: Josh Jungwirth, EVP ofFreight Forwarding, GEODISin Americas

Image: www.pexels.com

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