For years supply chains focused on reducing inventory levels and cutting costs, but the past year has drawn attention to the risk of becoming too lean. A move to just-in-time inventory has impacted the resilience and agility of supply chains to response to significant disturbances, and this year's Annual Third-Party Logistics Study looked at shippers' plans to rebalance supply chains.
Many businesses learned the hard way that a lack of inventory can impact customer satisfaction and sales opportunities. As part of this year's study, 68% of shippers believe that supply chains have become too global and must be rebalanced towards more regional and local/domestic ecosystems within larger global enterprises. The majority of shippers-83%-said they plan to adjust sources of supply as a direct result of efforts to rebalance towards regional and local/domestic sources
For shippers, several factors are contributing towards global rebalancing, including increased need for supply chain resilience (71%), increased awareness of supply chain vulnerabilities (63%) and more restrictive trade policies (41%).
As supply chains shift, logistics providers will play an essential role in filling the gap and helping shippers manage both agility and risk.