Eric Gates

Special Guest Blog Post from Emo Trans The unpredictable economic landscape has produced unprecedented challenges within inbound logistics. Company leaders must navigate global disruptions and shifting consumer demands as they reshape their supply chains. Amidst the adversity, multisupplier sourcing has become a strategic advantage instead of a contingency plan. Follow this approach to equip business leaders with actionable insights. What Is Multisupplier Sourcing? Multisupplier sourcing involves purchasing products or services from two or more suppliers. This strategy differs from organizations using just one supplier. Diversifying the base requires establishing and managing relationships with multiple vendors. A robust network lets you be more agile as the market changes. Multisupplier sourcing has gained traction in the last five years. A 2022 McKinsey survey said 81% of companies implemented dual-sourcing strategies — an increase of 26 percentage points since 2020. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said this approach will continue to be relevant through the decade. The survey noted changes in inventory, sourcing and regionalization to boost resilience. Why Businesses Use Multisupplier Sourcing Increasingly complex supply chains have made businesses reevaluate traditional sourcing models. Multisupplier sourcing has emerged as a popular strategy to improve operational efficiency and resilience. Here are three key benefits that…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open   Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…