National Defense Magazine (January 2022) article titled “NDIA Building Supply Chains for the 21st Century” touches on three key challenges companies – whether Defense Industry or Commercial – are facing during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
- Supply of critical raw materials often sourced from geopolitical adversaries that may cut off our access at a moment’s notice.
- Goods procured from sole source or fragile markets
- Less small and mid-sized businesses to offer alternatives; coupled with a skilled workforce crisis
As a result, restricted access to materials hinder’s the company’s ability to meet production goals. Reduction in skilled workforce reduces experience, productivity and effectiveness of the company’s resources management. As a result, a company’s productivity and efficiency decreases during challenging times.
The asset management professional inside me immediately identified ways having an effective Property/Asset Management System complements building supply chains for the 21st century. An effective asset management system allows companies flexibility by reducing waste, risk, and increasing cost savings by making the best use of assets (materials, equipment, tools) in their custody.
Asset Management Systems
Asset management systems analyze a company’s assets to determine whether items need to be procured, or whether the company already has sufficient balances on-hand. Procurement reviews allow companies the ability to identify whether new procurements are reasonable and necessary.
Regardless of a company’s industry or maturity, an effective management system results in cost savings through the identification of risk, reduction in waste, and increase in effectiveness to do more with less – and/or do more, better.
Another benefit to an effective asset management system is the ability to maintain records, ensuring tools, equipment and materials are available in the quantities, conditions and locations necessary to be used when necessary. This leads to less time wasted searching for an asset, and the erroneous procurement of duplicate items which increases costs through procurement, storage and maintenance of these excess assets.
Speaking of excess, asset managers routinely screen the company’s records to identify obsolete, unneeded assets that can be repurposed to gain value.
“To address these challenges, industry and government need to build stronger, lasting partnerships at all levels.”
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/1/7/building-supply-chains-for-the-21st-century
One way to direct impact our ability to build strong, lasting partnerships to help overcome challenges in a mutually beneficial way is by becoming an industry association member, like the National Property Management Association (NPMA) for us asset managers.
Industry or Trade associations offer communities for likeminded individuals and companies to share their best practices, build relationships and tackle problems facing their collective industries. As a National Property Management Association (Nutmeg Chapter) member, I am an advocate for collaboration and partnerships gained through professional networks such as industry/trade associations.
Our chapter participates in recurring meetings to discuss industry news, trends, best practices, participate in peer-led training, collaborate to overcome challenges and much more. The NPMA national association promotes partnership through certification, training, seminars/conferences, webinars, an online community, periodicals, journals, and much more to build those strong, lasting partnerships identified as opportunities to build supply chains for the 21st century.
How do YOU strengthen your supply chain?
Additional Resources
Articles
10 Fraud indicators in Government Property Management (and how it can help YOUR company too!)
Webinars
NPMA Webinar recording | The Contractual Requirements for Subcontractor Management and their Application
NPMA Webinar recording | Property Management System Analysis, Self Assessment and Subcontractor Oversight
Top rated books on supply chain management
(Amazon affiliate links may earn the author a commission at no cost to you)
Supply Chain Excellence: A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model (4 stars on Amazon)
Operations and Supply Chain Management for MBAs (4.3 stars on Amazon)
Supply Chain Foundations: Buy It, Make It, Move It (4.7 stars on Amazon)
Supply Chain Risk Management: How to Design and Manage Resilient Supply Chains (4.7 stars on Amazon)