How can manufacturers manage the risk of depending on a single supplier for critical raw materials?
Many manufacturing supply chains are especially vulnerable at the raw-materials stage. They may think they’ve solved the problem of resilience by nearshoring, offshoring, reshoring or diversifying end-stage production. But they still end up relying on a single source or part of the world for the basic materials that are essential to the production line. How, then, can they extend supply-chain resilience to the beginning of the chain? On this episode, we get insight and advice from Amy Julian, strategy and transformation partner at the top 20 accounting and consulting firm Armanino. She discusses the steps that companies can take to mitigate against disruptions that result in a breakdown of supply chains at the raw-materials stage. And she’s candid about how far companies can reasonably go in this effort. Sometimes, a push to diversify can raise costs to an unacceptable level. “We need to choose what risks we’re willing to accept,” she says. Hosted by Bob Bowman, Editor-in-Chief of SupplyChainBrain.