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Supply Chain and Flexibility
Instead of “survival of the fittest”, Darwin introduced the idea that “those who survive are not the fittest of their species, but those who adapt to change”. If this were not the case, dinosaurs would be alive today. To adapt to change requires flexibility.
When I was a child, I used to look forward to two things in the “Before Sleep” program presented by the late Adile Naşit. The first was when Adile Naşit would call out the names of the children saying “Ahmet, Ayşe, Selim… come on, my lambs”, unfortunately she never said my name because it was a rare name, and the second was the cartoon “TonTon Family”. The cartoon “TonTon Family” was about the adventures of a family who could transform into any shape they wanted by saying “hop hop hop change, tonton”. The members of this family could solve every problem by changing. For example, after saying “hop hop hop change tonton”, the mother could become a fan and cool her children in hot weather, or the father could take the shape of a heart and win the mother’s heart. The ability to change into different shapes by saying “hop hop hop hop change”, especially in problematic situations, was the TonTon Family’s power of flexibility.
Flexibility is the ability to change and adapt to change in a short time with little cost and effort.
Flexibility for Agile Supply Chain
If I ask “What is the most important thing for the Supply Chain?” there are many different answers.
Flexibility is very important for Supply Chain and in my opinion, flexibility is the most important thing for agile supply chain.
Managing supply chain and logistics is a piece of cake for companies in normal times, when everything is hunky-dory. On the other hand, if there is an emergency or unexpected situation, if something needs to be done outside of routine operation or planning, sudden changes in customer demand, special periods such as campaigns or Mother’s Day, and returns or recalls, managing the supply chain and logistics becomes difficult. Managing this, or rather adapting to these changes, requires ingenuity. This skill is flexibility and the agility that comes with flexibility. Thus, companies can change and adapt to change in a short time with little cost and effort.
Flexibility in transportation processes is easy, when needed. There are many alternative solutions that you can implement in a short time. For example, you can change the type of transport, you can use different means of transport, you can rent as many trucks as you want from the market in a short time, or you can buy several trucks in a short time if you are very tight.
For example, the purchasing department bought 1,000 pallets of raw materials at a very cheap price (should be used in production within a month) BUT there is no space in your warehouse and you can’t find a warehouse for 1 month, or you are going to move from your warehouse in Çorlu to Kadıköy on Valentine’s Day when e-commerce customers’ “desire for much shorter delivery times” is increasing rapidly, or where will you put the equipment and materials for a 3-month project in Muş, or the sales department launched a 15-day discount campaign but there is no space in your warehouse for products coming off the line and from suppliers!…
Keeping up with such situations requires flexibility. Having this flexibility gives agility. Thus, companies can change and adapt to change in a short time with little cost and effort.
On the other hand, warehousing, which is the heart of the supply chain because it is where goods are collected and prepared for distribution, just like the heart is the organ that collects blood and distributes it throughout the body, unfortunately kills flexibility and you may not be as flexible with warehousing as you are with transportation. Because you cannot find the most suitable warehouse when you want, you cannot find the most suitable warehouse where you want, you cannot change the size of your warehouse when you want and you cannot change the location of your warehouse when you want because there are not enough warehouses for logistics services, it is difficult and laborious to find suitable warehouses, warehouse investment is expensive, warehouse investment takes a long time. In short, it is not as easy for supply chain and logistics to adapt to warehouse-driven change as it is for transportation.
The two ends of the supply chain, sales (customer) or supply, are variable, but the warehouse is fixed. In short, it is not as easy for supply chain and logistics to adapt to warehouse-driven change as it is for transportation.
For warehouses, the heart of the supply chain, flexibility is provided by “on demand” storage.
With on demand warehousing, companies can gain the benefit of flexibility in supply chain management. On-demand warehousing provides flexibility for storage areas, the heart of the supply chain where goods are collected and prepared for distribution. Those who need storage in any location, at any time, in any size, can find storage space in the location, time, duration (date range), size and features they want with on-demand storage, without the need for long-term contracts, and pay for it on an as-used (duration and size) basis. For this flexibility, there should be as much storage as needed in the place where it is needed. Otherwise, “flexibility” can be difficult or even impossible.
Flexibility with DepPartner
The “on demand storage” solution offered by DepOrtak and the “Gray Storage” concept developed by DepOrtak provide storage flexibility for the agile supply chain.
With the shared use of storage areas, those who need storage space can gain flexibility and use the storage areas with the desired characteristics at any time, in any place, at any time, for the desired amount of time, at low cost.
The on demand storage solution offered with the technology infrastructure and algorithms developed by DepOrtak ensures that storage space is available at the time, duration, location, size and features needed and that the supply chain is flexible.
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