In the changing world mobility, flexibility, and efficiency are needed – Part 3|4

SR: In Part 2 of our Q&A, you mentioned...

... that consolidation areas for container consolidation areas are being hit hard because containers are often left untied in ports or processing areas, leading to insufficient availability. Rolling stock is also inadequate, leading to problems with storage space.

That was now a through ball for me as an Asset and Property Manager, hahaha.

What does this mean for stockpiling and inventories?

KUR:

Companies will need to revisit their policies and procedures around stockpiling and inventory management. They will need to consider the new reality of scarce resources and increased demand. They will also need to factor in the potential for disruptions to supply chains. The issue of capital commitment will become interesting again, as companies will need to weigh the risks and benefits of investing in stocks of scarce materials. JIT/JIS will be discussed again, as Just-In-Time and Just-In-Sequence production systems will need to be adapted to the new reality.

Back to Basic will be asked again, as companies will need to simplify and streamline their operations to cope with the shortages.

Capital commitments based on ABC analyzes will experience a bust, but "how was that again?"

ABC analysis is an inventory management technique that determines the value of inventory items based on their importance to the business. ABC ranks items on-demand, cost, and risk data, and inventory managers group items into classes based on those criteria. This helps business leaders understand which products or services are most critical to the financial success of their organization.

This shortage administration and the upheaval of production to the agreed climate targets worldwide and consumer change will reinforce this. There is a new awareness, and consumers will support this change; market analyses and trends create this. Lithium is the new gold in the market; the competing needs, such as microchips for Cellular and control units for high-tech vehicles, are demand racers.

Capacities cannot be created with such ease, stockpiling figures need to become the basis for understanding and programming capacities, and software like SAP and other MRP will be constantly updated so to provide more accurate information when creating forecasts; this way the company will gain control over their capacity utilization based on demand and especially based on lead time in their logistics.