Mitigate Risk in Manufacturing: Three Pragmatic Actions to Take Now

Mitigate risk and keep moving forward in times of turmoil.

Our top priority during the COVID-19 crisis is the health and safety of our people, our partners, our clients and their families. We are doing everything we can to help everyone manage the disruptions to daily life and find the food, medicines and other critical supplies that they need.

Many of our clients are on government-ordered shutdown. Others providing essential products and services are running full out above capacity. We understand the challenges of managing wild disruptions in supply and demand and are here to help you manage through this crisis in every way that we can.

We have implemented a remote consulting model to provide timely and effective support, with analysis, coaching, and planning to help everyone in every way that we can.

We tend to be very pragmatic with our clients when it comes to driving speed, agility and responsiveness in both good times and bad. That universal truth remains unchanged in this time of crisis.

Here are three critical areas to help you mitigate risk in manufacturing:

1. Digitize Your Management System

We’re working with several clients to accelerate adoption of Dploy Solutions to provide better visibility to remote teams who need to track key performance metrics and manage countermeasures. The management system provides systemic process rigor and discipline for leaders responsible for guiding their organizations through the turmoil. The digital component is proving valuable to organizations dealing with restricted travel, international supply chains, remote teams, and rapidly changing business conditions.

2. Get Your S&OP Process Right and Increase Meeting Frequency

It’s imperative for organizations to get this process right in order to identify, discuss and address rapidly changing supply and demand issues. Demand fluctuations are happening on a daily basis, so the cadence and discipline of the S&OP has to change now. We’re working with clients to create visibility to different planning horizons – short, medium and longer-term. We can help to create clear guidance on time frame for key decisions and tie the S&OP decision to financials so you can understand the impact of decisions when making them.

3. Assess Your Leadership Capability and Structure to Mitigate Risk and Drive the Rebound

A crisis will test your team and bring their true capabilities forefront. This is a critical time to determine if you have the right team in place to navigate the challenging times ahead. These times call for different capabilities and skills to be successful as business declines or rapidly accelerates. We are working with clients to quickly and remotely get clarity on talent risks, capabilities and key development needs to manage through the current situation and to deal with the future challenges that lie ahead.

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic will be unprecedented. While I’m optimistic that we will prevail and recover, I am advising everyone to develop strategies and prepare for major cash flow, operational and supply chain disruptions through June and beyond.

Any crisis creates a clear call to action and the need to develop effective solutions based on limited information. With so many unknowns and a constantly changing on-the-ground situation, business leaders need to move fast and act creatively around how you operate, how you work with supply chain partners and how you staff operations, all while keeping your teams safe.

If you need any strategic or other advice and support during this crisis, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly, or to anyone at TBM.