Skip to Content

New frontier: Adapting after monumental supply chain disruptions

April 20, 2023 Article 8 min read
Authors:
Lou Longo
Companies are still reeling from the global supply chain disruptions of the past few years. In SupplyChainBrain, Lou Longo discusses lessons learned and advises business leaders to consider a regionalized approach as they reevaluate and protect their production lines.
Business professional in manufacturing facility.As industries reevaluate long-standing sourcing strategies and strive for greater flexibility in their distribution streams, the focus may shift to North America, with the United States becoming a more attractive location for manufacturing. Those companies that are the most agile, adaptable, and quickest to take advantage of a regionally based product pipeline will come out on top.

Regionalized production has many competitive benefits over centralization, including less currency risk, reduced impact of geopolitical issues, and the ability to alter manufacturing capacity in various locations, depending on given situations.

With a centralized approach to sourcing, interruptions can affect the entire production and supply chain, impacting sales, customers, and even a company’s brand image. This played out on a global scale with microchip production issues in the automotive industry over the last few years. As automakers learned, putting all one’s eggs in one basket can be potentially disastrous — especially if the basket breaks.

Related Thinking

Factory worker & businessperson going over inventory in manufacturing facility.
April 5, 2023

The pros and cons of “friend-shoring” production

Article 3 min read
Business professionals discussing international tax updates for Q1 2023.
March 16, 2023

International updates: Tax news and other global updates for Q1 2023

Article 13 min read
Business professionals speaking in a conference meeting.
Jan. 26, 2023

Driving international growth and exploring recent international updates

Webinar 1 hour watch