When suppliers, freight and staff are all disrupted at once, the plants that keep shipping are the ones that act fast and see clearly. Practical steps for visibility, prioritisation, alternate sources and protecting the constraint.
In the first weeks of 2020's disruption, one manufacturer discovered that a single Asian supplier provided a small moulded component used in every one of its products. There was no second source, no buffer stock beyond two weeks and no way to know when the supplier's factory would reopen. The team had a fortnight to solve a problem that had quietly existed for years.
Supply disruption rarely creates new weaknesses. It exposes the ones already there. The manufacturers that kept shipping through 2020 tended to do a few things quickly and well.
Get visibility first
- Build a single view of critical supply: every purchased part, its suppliers, their location, current stock, open orders and weeks of cover.
- Identify single-source, long-lead and region-concentrated items.
- Talk to suppliers directly and often, about their capacity, their own suppliers and their logistics.
- Track freight status for every inbound shipment, not just order dates.
Prioritise ruthlessly
When supply is limited, decide deliberately where it goes:
- Rank products by customer criticality, contractual obligations and margin.
- Allocate constrained components to the highest-priority products.
- Communicate early and honestly with customers about what you can and cannot deliver.
Secure alternatives
- Qualify alternate suppliers for critical items, starting with the highest risk.
- Look for approved alternate materials and components. Engineering may be able to approve an equivalent faster than a new supplier can be found.
- Consider local suppliers for urgent needs, even at higher piece cost.
- Where tools exist, consider moving them, a topic we covered in managing toolmakers in China.
Protect the constraint
If capacity, people or materials are limited, protect the step that limits output. Keep it supplied, staffed and running, and schedule everything else around it, following the logic in finding your bottleneck.
Adapt the workplace
- Rearrange layouts and shifts to maintain safety and distancing without losing flow.
- Cross-train people so absence in one area does not stop a whole line.
- Simplify and visualise work instructions so redeployed staff can be productive quickly.
Manage cash
Disruption hits cash as well as supply. Avoid panic-buying stock beyond what is genuinely needed, prioritise purchases for products customers will pay for and watch receivables closely.
After the crisis: build resilience
The lessons from disruption are most valuable once it passes:
- Dual-source critical items, or hold strategic buffer stock where dual sourcing is impossible.
- Review supply risk regularly, not only in a crisis.
- Design products with alternate materials and components in mind.
- Strengthen relationships with key suppliers.
- Keep the visibility tools built in the crisis, rather than reverting to spreadsheets.
Resilience costs money. So does a stopped line. The right balance depends on the business, but it should be a deliberate decision, not an accident discovered in the next crisis.
