Organizations after the pandemic: Steps to keep up with the advancing market
Co-Author: Harsh Rane
At the start of the 18th century, for the first time when a factory to produce yarn was established, the manufacturing industry started growing. In the late 1910s and 1920s, mass production began when Henry Ford set up Ford Motor Company that introduced electric motors to the then-well-known technique of chain production that boosted the economy. In 1948, Toyota Motors introduced Lean Manufacturing Technique to improve the flow of production by identifying and eliminating waste. These changes made these organizations achieve the pinnacle of the market at that time.
And now, when we fast forward to the present day, we see our current manufacturing systems are primarily machine-driven and mainly starting to rely on robotics and computerized systems. Till the start of 2020, everything just seemed fine in the field of manufacturing. But every system has some flaws, and its vulnerability gets exposed due to disruptive events. The whole manufacturing industry came to a standstill when the coronavirus pandemic hit us, and as the days passed the situation became more serious.
Due to the pandemic, people were locked inside their houses. Large industrial plants that used to run 24x7 were forced to stop their operations. The entire supply chain was on the verge of collapse. This resulted in the scarcity of essential products and price hikes. But on the other hand, it has shown us how we can convert it into an opportunity.
The demands for personal protective equipment, frozen food, medicines, home deliveries increased drastically in this period. And industries like automotive, tourism, electronics were severely hit. This extreme shift in the demands pushed many organizations with surplus funds to start producing these items on a large scale. Many organizations formed rapid response teams to rebound to normal operations.
However, small businesses with limited capital were at the mercy of the local government policies. People were not allowed to travel to the companies and forced to work either online or stop working. Many migrant laborers traveled back to their hometown due to insecurity in densely populated and pandemic-hit cities, which affected production capacities.
The current situation has triggered an alarm for the companies that are still operating by the old books. To keep up with the industry trends, and the market demands, companies in the future are needed to become more dynamic, resilient, and robust. Let’s have a look at what steps and strategies the organizations can develop to be profitable in the long run.
1. Take business online
This is an important step that organizations need to follow to be competitive in the coming future. The online presence not only develops good communication with the customers but also helps in creating a brand. Also taking the operations online, wherever possible can be an advantage over other competitors and also can save a lot of expenses spent on offices, infrastructure, and assets for the employees. The option to work from home can provide great flexibility post disruption events.
2. Adopting resilient supply chain strategies
Investing in developing strategies for disruption events and Plan Bs for quick recoveries is always a good idea. No company can continue to be a leader unless they plan before others. Working on such activities can make companies operate normally in high impact-low probability events like a pandemic, cyber-attacks, or even a terrorist attack.
3. Part, process, and supply chain Consolidation
Consolidating parts into one to simplify the assembly process reduces dependencies as well as simplifies the supply chain. The simplification can save labor expenses and lead times. If the part consolidation is not possible, production lines, process workflow, and supply networks can also be consolidated and streamlined explicitly.
4. Decentralizing the Business
This strategy may sound weird to many people, but the idea of centralizing the business is long gone, and the development of tools like the internet, blockchain, and sensors enables decentralized business models to be more flexible and efficient. Just-In-Time production and inventory can help companies to quickly adapt to the changing demands of the market. The decentralized model can also be helpful in times like virus pandemic by redirecting the staff working at one location.
5. Investing in forecasting demands
The demand forecasting is another area where small businesses can hack into higher growth and more revenue. The companies can also plan better for the near future using the forecasting and risk management tools at their disposal.
Other than this, individual sectors can research and develop strategies useful for their products and supply chains. For eg. FMCG companies can work on producing products having more shelf life without degrading the quality of the product or packaging. Automotive companies can start their taxi service if the cars are not getting sold. Education models can transform by starting online courses and training the teachers to deliver effectively on camera.
Today, supply chain resilience no longer implies the ability to manage risk. It now implies the ability to manage risk by being better positioned than other competitors to deal with and gain more advantage in any possible scenario.
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