Business Guide

Effective supply chain management is a key concern for all companies operating in a global business environment. Push and pull strategies form the backbone of supply chain management and determine how companies manufacture, store and deliver their products to customers. But how do managers find the right balance between supply and demand to avoid risks and remain flexible at the same time? We discuss the difference between push and pull strategies and why ever more companies are adopting a hybrid approach.

The increasing digitization of global supply chains is also having an impact on Supply Chain Sourcing: Companies are turning to smart technologies and strategies to optimize their procurement processes and better adapt to ever-changing market demands. The digital transformation in sourcing offers a multitude of opportunities and is fundamentally changing how managers identify, select, manage and interact with suppliers. We discuss how companies can optimize the different elements of Supply Chain Sourcing with the help of various technologies.

In view of changing customer expectations and legal requirements such as the German Supply Chain Act or the new EU CSR Directive, companies are increasingly responsible for keeping environmental impacts and risks as low as possible when purchasing products or services. For sustainable procurement, the ISO 20400 standard is particularly helpful, as it addresses aspects of social and economic sustainability in addition to environmental protection. We have summarized the criteria and benefits of the ISO standard and explain what role the digitally designed supply chain plays in meeting sustainability criteria.

It is a long way from production to delivery of a product to the end consumer. For many companies, it’s a key priority to ensure that the ordered goods are available on the agreed dates. After all, the more efficient, reliable and punctual the transport of goods, the higher the level of customer satisfaction. To achieve this, it is worth focusing on the middle mile. As the interface between procurement and the final provision of the goods, the latter represents a crucial and complex section of the supply chain. Find out here how strategic supply chain management can help to optimize transport between warehouses with the help of digital solutions in order to shorten delivery times, better manage inventories and meet customer expectations.

Strategic supply chain management is the foundation of a smooth flow of goods and thus the basis for economic efficiency and customer satisfaction. In this context, supply chains are becoming increasingly digital, as the use of innovative technologies and solutions enables the exchange and analysis of data, the automation of processes and tracking in real time. In our latest blog post, we discuss how the application of artificial intelligence (AI) as a disruptive technology supports logistics processes and can make a decisive contribution to optimizing and strengthening supply chains.

Resources are finite and unequally distributed on a global scale. Thus, a shortage of or difficult access to raw materials can result in economic risks such as production bottlenecks and rising prices. In order to minimize procurement risks, conserve resources and meet increasing sustainability requirements, the reuse and remanufacturing of products and materials in a Circular Economy is becoming increasingly important. In our most recent blog post on Circular Economy, we discuss the infrastructure that is needed in order to transform a linear supply chain into a sustainable supply cycle and how logistics can support this process.

Compliance is a key aspect in the logistics environment: It serves to prevent risks and thus to protect companies and their employees. As the topics of sustainability and due diligence are gaining momentum, companies in the B2B and B2C sectors should prepare for increasing transparency requirements along the entire supply chain. We highlight the challenges and benefits of compliance management and explain the technologies that support it.

The challenges of recent years have prompted organizations to put their supply chains to the test and strive to minimize dependencies on established production sites. For example, many companies are currently using a China+1 strategy to expand their supplier network and relocate production or branches to new locations with attractive conditions. We discuss which countries are becoming promising alternatives in the context of diversification efforts, as well as the factors that play a role in the China+1 strategy and the tasks that go hand in hand with it.

Cyber attacks, the COVID-19-pandemic and geopolitical tensions – the challenges of the past few years have shown how quickly supply chain processes can come to a standstill worldwide. This makes it all the more important for companies to implement strategic risk management. In our latest blog article, we discuss the current risks that supply chain managers should keep an eye on, and explain how they can create well-founded forecasts, take measures at an early stage and increase the resilience of their supply chain.

Companies are increasingly responsible for ensuring that ethical and sustainable standards are complied with along the entire supply chain. The new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) clearly regulates who is obliged to submit a sustainability report and what content must be published in accordance with binding standards. While our first blog post on the new EU Sustainability Reporting Directive dealt with the companies affected, deadlines and changes, in Part 2 we delve into the challenges companies face and explain why they definitely benefit from a sustainability report despite the significant effort that is involved in this context.