In the past few years, priorities in supply chains and procurement have shifted dramatically, from rapidly increasing sustainability in their utility grids to doubling their spend optimization.While these are short-term shifts in response to the business’s growing uncertainty, two themes remain relevant and will receive more attention in the medium and long term, sustainability and diversity.

Supply chain management with procurement can no longer be ignored because their impact on businesses goes way beyond the pandemic.Key to sustainability:Sustainability is one of the crucial topics among the business leaders and is now on the agenda of every company and under increasing pressure from consumers and investors alike to track their environmental impact.

To implement this program, companies need to focus on sustainable public procurement policies.Here’s how:Make Sustainable Procurement your #1 Goal:Procurement leaders need to make decisions based not only on cost, but also on how those decisions impact their communities, environment, and social standing.

They need to incorporate socio-economic, environmental, and ethical dimensions into public procurement and processes and fulfill their corporate social responsibilities.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/embracing-a-sustainable-procurement-strategy/

But as simple as it sounds, a lot can go wrong in this phase, which not only leads to increased costs but also undermines trust and negatively impacts your brand.The final mile and last mile refer to the final delivery stage.

Using the last mile in eCommerce can make the difference between a positive customer experience and a return.

The best eCommerce delivery schedules will fail if shippers fail to account for this critical part of the journey, adding more cargo to consumers, increasing profitability.In 2020, the global supply chain management market was valued at 15.85 billion USD and is expected to reach almost 31 billion USD by 2026, according to the Statista report.Here are some of the main problems that eCommerce businesses due to flawed supply chain:Return of orders subsequently increase in logistics costs:Order cancellations are common in eCommerce, but one of the main reasons customers return orders is an error in the last mile delivery process.

Be it late deliveries, inability to track packages accurately, delivery of damaged items, and improper placement of packages – all of these can contribute to more returns.

These incidents usually occur due to negligence of eCommerce companies or lack of modern technology.

As more and more customers return orders, logistics costs increase, affecting market share and customer loyalty.Return order to origin:Salespeople face a significant problem when it comes to “return to origin”.

Years ago, disruptions were considered a common occurrence in the food and beverage market, changes in customer orders, late arrival of materials and supplies, or even packaging lines that just happened to be out of service for a short period of time.

Today, such events are a normal, everyday problem in the food and beverage industry.Disruptions these days look a little different; pandemics, border closures, weather anomalies, geopolitical issues, clogged distribution channels, labor shortages push supply chains to their limits.

These disruptions are pretty rapid and are causing damage in all food and beverage production areas, especially the supply chain.

Companies need to add three components to their supply chain management strategy to transform from process to philosophy.CollaborationInvestigationEvaluationThese three ingredients have aimed at information.

Knowledge is the power to manage your supply chain successfully.

However, sometimes there is too much information with insufficient time to analyze it all in order to make timely and wise decisions.Here, these three elements focus on tangible ingredients to keep your supply chain flexible and adaptable to disruptions and changing market trends.Collaboration:Communication is critical for making the smooth moving of the supply chain, and here we mean the reciprocal supply chain of products and information.

As the business grows bigger, stakeholders must invest in the software solutions that keep their operations running.

They should also identify any problems immediately that can be rectified easily.

Companies that are at the top of their game often look for solutions that streamline functionalities and make work easier for employees and management.

Software that enables companies to keep track of their entire inventory and thereby help them to streamline the supply chain.Inventory management is necessary.

It is impossible for businesses to operate in a void, and merely having siloed data makes it difficult for them to understand how one area of an application can impact other areas.

The accuracy of your inventory directly or indirectly impacts almost every other part and aspect of the business.The replenishment process is also critical to the inventory management program, thereby reducing stock outs and helping them understand product levels that would be appropriate for the company.

Years ago, disruptions were considered a common occurrence in the food and beverage market, changes in customer orders, late arrival of materials and supplies, or even packaging lines that just happened to be out of service for a short period of time.

Today, such events are a normal, everyday problem in the food and beverage industry.Disruptions these days look a little different; pandemics, border closures, weather anomalies, geopolitical issues, clogged distribution channels, labor shortages push supply chains to their limits.

These disruptions are pretty rapid and are causing damage in all food and beverage production areas, especially the supply chain.

The supply chain must be strategically coordinated and tactically controlled.

Companies need to add three components to their supply chain management strategy to transform from process to philosophy.CollaborationInvestigationEvaluationThese three ingredients have aimed at information.

Knowledge is the power to manage your supply chain successfully.

Disruptions from minor material shortages to large-scale natural disasters stopping up transportation have always been something every supply chain must be prepared for.

However, some events are so sudden it is nearly impossible to properly prepare, with no better example being the COVID-19 pandemic.

In mere days, healthcare products and groceries were flying off store shelves.

Many supply chains could not properly shift production from their primarily Asian manufacturers to account for this sudden demand.The pandemic put many companies to the test, something their supply chains were not ready for, exposing many issues in the inflexible nature they operate.

Here are five critical factors we recommend considering when planning to build up supply chain resilience in your business.1) Control your OverheadIn the business world, “resilience” refers to the ability of a company to show flexibility, allowing them to roll with the punches frequently thrown at them and quickly adjust to any change.

However, it is much more challenging to bounce back from a monetary loss than a minor supply issue, and your wallet is the first thing a disruption in the business world will hit.Consider using third party services like Katalyst to help take the load off your shoulders!

From their experiences during the pandemic, many businesses learned firsthand that their needed output can be wildly inconsistent, and with that, a need for change has arisen.

Thanks to the advancements in technology and automation gained from the race to Industry 4.0, companies all over the world have been thriving off the many innovations over the years.With businesses worldwide in the pursuit of Industry 4.0, it is now more important than ever to achieve a sense of interconnectedness within your operations.

“Plug and Produce” products are one of these vital methods, allowing you to easily improve your output margin in a ridged industry where it is often too costly to do so.What is Plug-and-Produce?Establishing an interconnected setup between your computers, production lines, and machines is easier said than done.

There are many factors to consider, from the flexibility to quickly adapt to production changes to greater transparency of work processes, all of which ensure your business functions as efficiently as possible.However, the machinery required for all of this can take up a massive amount of space and their upkeep being wildly expensive.

Named after the “plug and play” concept of simply putting a flash drive into a computer to start a program, plug-and-produce” consists of a connector that, once installed, will unite a majority of the aspects in a production line.A plug-and-produce component can provide a wide variety of services, from high voltages, compressed air pressure, and secure connectivity, all to make sure all the processes function as usual.

This means you can avoid the pain and costly nature of changes to your supply chain in the future, as you only have to add another connection to your line rather than a full-blown expansion.An easy example of a plug-and-produce device would be a sorting conveyor belt.

As COVID-19 pushed many industries to drastically change up their supply chain systems, a significant size of the fashion world was already there.

Though they faced a small drop in profits due to the pandemic, businesses worldwide that embraced fast fashion still grossed a combined total of $31.4 billion in 2020 according to Intrado and shows no sign of slowing down.

Utilizing the best E-commerce web solutions, fast fashion is revitalizing and keeping the retail industry afloat during chaotic times.What is Fast Fashion?While you may not recognize the term, the average person is probably familiar with the concept of a fast fashion supply chain from ordering clothing and furniture online.

Also known as “fashion on-demand,” fast fashion defines the vertical supply chain management system that is set up with speed in mind, making sure the design, production, and shipping of items happens as quickly as possible.If you have ever shopped at a store like H or Zara, you have likely taken part in fast fashion, but this supply chain system is not only for larger businesses.

Smaller digital commerce retailers can also benefit from fast fashion, as the ability to quickly create personalized apparel and ship it out to customers in just a few weeks is game changing.The Best Styles with the Lowest PricesThe fashion and apparel industries are always fickle, with styles coming and going within the blink of an eye.

One of the primary benefits of fast fashion is that a business’s supply chain—if properly adapted to this method—is more than ready to quickly adapt to and move on to a new concept at the drop of a hat.