LOGISTICS
Collaboration the key on many challenges Wright ’ s advice to smaller businesses is to collaborate with competitors on road transport .
“ Organisations need to work together across the supply chain ,” he says . “ Manufacturers should share their supply chain assets for mutual benefit . In our experience , very often a company ’ s best collaborative partner is its competitor , because they face the same challenges , share the same customers and often the same suppliers .”
Wright says collaboration can also help smaller companies cope with problems concerning container shipping , which is currently seeing global delays and inflation on an unprecedented scale . The cost of shipping goods between China and the UK has risen threefold in the past year alone , for example .
And this is no short-term headache ; many experts predict these problems will run well into 2023 .
“ In terms of what businesses can do on containers , shipping in bulk is prudent because it increases volume per shipment ,” advises Wright . “ Businesses might even think about sharing shipping deliveries with similar or partner businesses , allowing goods to be shipped in fewer journeys .”
In some sectors , Wright says , companies are moving from sea freight to air freight , which although more expensive , is much faster .“ It ’ s mainly companies with high-value and lowervolume goods ,” he explains . “ Air freight results in guaranteed availability and inventory .
So for smaller businesses it seems that it ’ s very much a case of ‘ stronger together than apart ’.
But large or small , companies are having to plot a strategically smart path through the onerous global logistical challenges they face . Anything less , and they know they might not emerge from the other side .
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