The manufacturing sector has taken a massive hit during the turbulent shifts in supply and demand in recent years. Prior to the pandemic, not everyone fully understood the critical significance of a functioning supply chain, the impact it has on everyday life, or the importance of measuring the myriad of logistical complexities that occur behind the scenes. As an industry, we’re still navigating these difficult times with little to no guarantee that things will return to normal, even as the supply chain continues to be strained.

At Curry Supply, we embrace difficult times with transparency and intentionality and look for opportunities to learn something new. Continue reading to learn more about the lessons we’ve learned – and applied – to address current, ongoing challenges and how we’re committed to mitigating risk on behalf of our customers to help safeguard against unpredictable shifts in the market.

 

Common Factors Driving Supply Chain Constraints

It’s important to understand, and to underscore, that all the individual factors driving supply chain constraints are interconnected, often impacting multiple outcomes, causing unprecedented stress on supply networks. We’ve identified the three most common factors, all of which have upended the industry and altered the way we conduct business:

• Chassis availability
• Delivery delays
• Inflation

While chassis availability has received the most attention, it’s just one component in the manufacturing process and cannot carry the blame. All these factors have been negatively impacted by similar disruptions in the supply chain, thus creating a cyclical pattern, preventing the identification of a single root cause. Almost every industry has experienced retraction due to a variety of delays and shortages, including labor and parts, all while simultaneously reeling from inflation due to surge in demand.

 

Curry Supply’s Proactive, Quantitative Approach

Taking all these factors into consideration, Curry Supply has implemented a quantitative approach, using data as a prerequisite for making sound decisions. Without adequate data, it’s impossible to show improvement which is why this approach is especially meaningful right now. Specifically, here are a few of the proactive measures we are implementing to strengthen our internal supply chain and support customers:

• Establish targeted KPIs to effectively measure the health and performance of key suppliers by tracking on-time delivery and defect rate for all products received.
• Built dedicated teams and business focals to dive into the intricacies of specific commodities, such as chassis production, service bodies, and subcomponents, to discover gaps and expedite solutions.

Focusing on key metrics allows us to gain a clear understanding of how each of our suppliers operate and enables us to give customers a fair representation of how our internal supply network is performing. Using this data, we’ve also been able to negotiate better rates with suppliers or recommend alternatives after discovering why certain prices have increased, which equates to savings we can pass on to customers.

As a result, we are now better positioned to take calculated risks to help protect customers against market instability. As an example, we have begun to increase our inventory for certain subcomponents and chassis models when our data indicates the timing is right to do so. This proactively solves problems for customers before they arise.

 

Curry Supply’s Brand Ethos

We truly believe turbulent times provide opportunities to learn something new and our brand ethos pushes the entire team to think outside the box.

Fearless – We’re fearless in our approach to doing business. Everyone on the team is considered a value-added player and encouraged to think big and take risks.

Driven – We’re driven to push through any difficult circumstance and empowered by leadership to explore new pathways to success.

Proven – We’re proven because we’ve been successfully pushing boundaries since 1932.

 

Stay with us as we finish our series “Here for the Long Haul.” In the fourth and final blog post, we’ll discuss how shifts in the market demand an operational overhaul, including staffing solutions to utilize your team most effectively.