Complete Story
10/12/2021
033. Managing Your Inventory and Supply Chain in a Chaotic Business World
Presenter: Jon Schreibfeder & Matt Schreibfeder
Level of Complexity: Intermediate
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Distributors face a multitude of business challenges today. Sales of some products is skyrocketing while demand for other products is plummeting. Frequently vendors cannot ship needed inventory in a timely manner. Transportation issues are resulting in delays in receiving replenishment shipments. Often you need to decide how much to buy before a vendor price increase and evaluate alternate sources of supply. In addition to these replenishment issues, there are many challenges in maintaining a safe work environment while filling customer orders in a timely manner. In fact, composition of these orders may have significantly changed with the boom of e-commerce. In this session we will discuss what distributors can do to address these challenges, how to evaluate possible supply alternatives, and adjust replenishment policies and procedures during the gradual recovery from the pandemic. Most important of all we will discuss how to prepare for future, unknown, marketplace disruptions.
Tariffs, government regulations, changes in supplier performance, transportation disruptions, and many other evolving situations present distributors with a number of challenges:
- Demand of some products is skyrocketing while demand for other products is plummeting.
- Certain stock products are not available, forcing buyers to search for acceptable substitutes.
- Frequently vendors cannot ship what they previously supplied in a timely manner.
- New competitors are entering the market.
- Transportation issues are resulting in delays in receiving replenishment shipments. In this session we will explore how organizations can:
- How to best forecast future demand of products in these uncertain times.
- Calculate anticipated lead times that reflect how long it will actually take to receive replenishment shipments.
- Determine inventory levels that will balance your desired level of customer service (i.e., avoidance of stockouts), your investment in stock inventory, and maximize your net profitability.
- How much to buy when presented with special opportunities.
- Dealing with tariffs, vendor issues, and other supply chain disruptions.
- Set inventory related goals and measure your progress in achieving them.
Bookstore
Rapid Teamwork
Sean Glaze
In modern organizations, there seems to be a revolving door of new projects and new teammates. The challenge is seldom about strategy. Leaders struggle because they don’t have a process for bringing diverse individuals together as a collaborative team.
Rapid Teamwork tells the story of Greg Sharpe, a manager whose team has been underachieving and struggling with a few issues.
What he and his executive team experience during an unusual rafting retreat is a lesson on how to become a more productive team quickly – creating a more unified workforce.
