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It doesn't take a skilled worker in the manufacturing setting to feel the affects of supply chain, as seen with the formula crisis. It wasn't that long ago that supply chain managers barely gave their suppliers a second thought after gaining a contract, but COVID-19 entered the scene and managers were forced to look at risk-management systems and best practices. One of the greatest takeaways from this week's reading is companies have become so hyper-focused on the end dollar and OTD, they are forgetting behind every desk and decision is a living person. There needs to be a greater shift focusing on people and making supplier relationships more withstanding(Schuh, et al., 2022).

I know from working in the semiconductor industry that big changes are needed much farther back than suppliers. Technology is key and as someone who used to be a planner and now a junior PM, there has to be a better system than manual entry excel sheets. Let's face it, we aren't computers and decisions can still be biased no matter what we try. Using better software to help the decision making process, forecast future demands, pull up output metrics, can all give a company a leading edge. It's predicted that by 2025 25% of decisions made in the supply chain field will be made by technology(Hippold, 2022). So just how does this all tie together?

If supply chain managers and buyers can spend less time forecasting and decision making due to technology, the more time can be spent building supplier relationships. In other words, technology can help aid in the procurement strategy while managers and buyers work on sourcing and purchasing. I found a great article that gives some great tips on building a stronger vendor bond such as attending industry events and tradeshows, talking with suppliers about future plans even when you're not in negotiations, and sharing vendor forecasting to help vendors feel a part of the process and more like a team(Nicasio, 2022).

References

Hippold, Sarah. (2022). Gartner predicts the future of supply chain technology. Gartner. Retrieved on September 15, 2022, from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-predicts-the-future-of-supply-chain-technology

Nicasio, Francesca. (2022). Supplier relationship management: 10 ways to build strong bonds with vendors. VendHQ. Retrieved on September 15, 2022, from https://www.vendhq.com/blog/supplier-relationship-management/

Schuh, Christian., Schnellbacher, Wolfgang., Triplat, Alenka., & Weise, Daniel. (2022). The semiconductor crisis should change your long-term supply chain strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on September 15, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2022/05/the-semiconductor-crisis-should-change-your-long-term-supply-chain-strategy