How To Protect Inventory From The Suez Ship Stuck Crisis

Undoubtedly, the world’s supply chain is currently being dramatically disrupted. First, it has faced unprecedented stress due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and now – a historical crisis in the Suez Canal. In fact, one of the busiest shipping routes in the globe is blocked. Unfortunately, no one can predict how much time it will take for traffic to get back to normal. As traffic will continue to be disrupted, shipments will be delayed. So, managing your inventory replenishment wisely seems to be a must.

Which supply chain management is the right one for your business?

To avoid the negative consequences of a similar global crisis, an international company that provides a worldwide shipping service should protect itself in advance. One way to do this is by thinking of the features its web-based inventory tracking solution should include. So, aspects such as the following need to be considered primarily: 

• Can I monitor inventory across different locations that are far?
• Can I track my business inventory details in real-time?
• How can I manage multiple suppliers effectively? 
• Will the information about my and my suppliers’ stock levels be available and accessible?
• Will I be able to track the expected lead time?

It’s the responsibility of the right inventory management platform to take care of such needs! This will not happen automatically but you should be able to handle the above effortlessly.

Now let’s see how our cloud-based solution can help our users in regular cases – but also in dramatic incidents such as Suez Canal blockage!

Real-time monitoring of inventory in a supply chain of multiple locations

Megaventory platform provides you with a simple screen of what you have per product for every location.

Your visibility should include the In-Transit items (TRANS location above).

If you were to have stock expected to go through the Suez Canal in the coming weeks, then you can expect those in-transit items to remain undelivered.

Having multiple suppliers per product – and knowing their stock

Let’s acknowledge that the major shipment route is temporarily closed. Even if it opens quickly, things will take quite a bit of time to normalize. So, what should you do then? With the right supply chain management software, you can effortlessly define multiple suppliers for your product. As a consequence, if you make a purchase from several vendors, a smart decision would be to select the one which is not disrupted by the situation. As a matter of a fact, moving from one supplier to another can be easily done just within a click without racking your brain.

Supply chain lead times 

Knowing how long it will take for the product to be delivered to you from the supplier is advantageous for planning and improving supply chain operations.

Obviously, you always can adjust lead times in case of unusual events like the Suez ship incident.

Inventory management software – investment to a bright future for your business’ supply chain 

It’s during these days that you get paid back for having invested in software for your inventory management. The benefits of having visibility of stock, knowing all the ins and outs, making quick decisions and actions far outweigh any software cost. Likewise, the fact that you have an ally in this otherwise very unpleasant situation takes the edge of the negative psychological effects. And that’s something you can’t put a price on! Put simply, such investment will always ensure that the logistics side of your business is well placed for the future.

The good side of technology 

Thanks to technology, you can respond to unforeseen events that would otherwise be disastrous. As a result, you may gain an advantage by using an application such as Megaventory – definitely over any competitors who rely on spreadsheets and other antiquated methods.

A modern application will allow you to structure and display the details of your various partner agreements (i.e. who sells a product to you, which location from, and at which price). In other words, you can decide which supplier to buy from in a few clicks, while for your business competitors it might take much longer to make such a choice.

Entrust your supply chain operations to our reliable and cost-efficient solution!