How will companies make their supply chains more resilient, post-pandemic, without weakening their competitiveness? Managers should first understand their vulnerabilities and then consider a number of steps—many of which they should have taken long before the pandemic struck. Furthermore, with the rise in economic nationalism, worldwide manufacturers will be under greater political and competitive pressures to increase their domestic production, grow employment in their home countries, reduce or even eliminate their dependence on sources that are perceived as risky, and rethink their use of lean manufacturing strategies. While shifting or rebuilding your supplier infrastructure may sound daunting, this article outlines a number of actions we have already been deploying very successfully with many of our clients since the pandemic began.
