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Regardless of size and sector, supply chain risk<\/strong> is a reality for all companies today.<\/p>\n The shortage of raw materials<\/strong> and the continuous rise in their prices, to give just one example, are part of a familiar scenario.<\/p>\n However, alongside global factors<\/strong>, there are other circumstances that could cause a company to suffer a supply chain disruption<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here are some examples:<\/p>\n In this article we will understand together what is meant by supply risk, how it is managed by companies and what strategies<\/strong> should be adopted.<\/p>\n To analyse this phenomenon, we have used the April 2022 research report<\/a> by the Rise Laboratory<\/strong><\/a> (Research & Innovation for Smart Enterprises) of the University of Brescia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we speak of supply risk, we are referring to the potential occurrence of a problem along a company’s supply chain<\/strong>, such that the provision of a good or service is prevented.<\/p>\n The event is usually sudden<\/strong> and unforeseen<\/strong>, and most often capable of bringing the production process to a halt.<\/p>\n Since 2020, there are almost countless production interruption<\/strong>s we have witnessed due to the lack of key components<\/strong>.<\/p>\n We need only think of the case of semiconductors<\/strong><\/a>: the impossibility of finding them has had a huge impact on entire supply chains, including the automotive and IT industries.<\/p>\n In addition to external variables<\/strong>, there are also internal factors<\/strong> affecting supply chain risk.<\/p>\n One of these is the lack of experience<\/strong> of the people in the company who – especially in smaller companies – do not know how to deal with risk.<\/p>\n However, adopting clear procedures<\/strong> is crucial. Let us see why.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Find new clients, distributors and suppliers in 196 countries.<\/p>\n Request your free pre-analysis<\/a><\/p>\n Developing efficient strategies<\/strong> to manage supply chain risk is important because the resulting impacts<\/strong> fall, with more or less force, on the entire company.<\/p>\n These are as follows:<\/p>\n Let’s better understand with an example.<\/p>\n To assemble some of its products, the company uses customized steel screws<\/strong>. To obtain them, it relies on a supplier who has always guaranteed a convenient price.<\/p>\n A sudden halt in the supplier’s production<\/strong> due to a lack of steel puts the furniture company in difficulty, unable to ship its products.<\/p>\n Some customers decided to cancel their orders; at the same time, the management had to take action to find an alternative supplier capable of guaranteeing customised screws.<\/p>\n The search goes on for weeks<\/strong>, making it impossible to collect new orders for the blocked products.<\/p>\n The loss of existing customers is thus added to the loss of potential ones, with the added cost of higher costs<\/strong> because the price of the new screws will be higher than the price<\/strong> charged by the old supplier.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The situation described is the result of passive supply chain risk management<\/strong>.<\/p>\n We are talking about a short-sighted attitude<\/strong> that does not<\/strong> anticipate problems<\/strong> and does not consider alternative ways<\/strong> of dealing with them.<\/p>\n While it is true that anticipating an interruption of supply relationships<\/strong> is very difficult, it is also true that there are solutions<\/strong> to reduce the damage.<\/p>\n In the case of the furniture company we have described, such an approach would have involved, for example, the creation of a list of backup suppliers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This is a previously selected group of companies<\/strong>, created ad hoc to respond to possible problems. Some of these may have already been contacted beforehand, in order to get quotes<\/strong> for the required product.<\/p>\n Adopting such an approach is part of proactive supply risk management. What are its benefits<\/strong>?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A plan B<\/strong> such as the one we have described helps to reduce the undesirable consequences of an outage.<\/p>\n But how to implement it?<\/p>\n Digital technologies<\/strong> and their applications<\/strong> offer great help<\/strong>. By exploiting them, one can quickly obtain a list of alternative suppliers.<\/p>\n\n
Supply chain risk: a definition<\/h2>\n
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Why it is important to manage supply chain risk<\/h2>\n\n
Passive and proactive supply chain risk management<\/h2>\n
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Having a plan B: the help of technology<\/h2>\n