In the United States, the federal government has made interference with key transportation bottlenecks. However, the level of dysfunction in supply chain congestion is not as severe in Canada. Nonetheless, the supply chain problems faced in Canada have resulted in a lot of loss in money and time.
Insufficient Land Space
During the process of unclogging during lockdowns, America made the decision to operate the Port of Los Angeles 24/7. However, in Canada, the problem is different. Canadian operations are already round the clock. Supply chains have ample port capacity and have had little-to-no labor challenges. According to the President of the Chamber of Shipping, Canada, Robert Lewis-Manning, the congestion comes from insufficient land space.
“The biggest problem in the Canadian supply chain is that there’s not enough land space. He said that there are too many containers to move out of terminals, get to warehouses, and unpack and move them on trucks,” he said.
Just In Time Delivery
Delays in shipping are very easy to compound and can dissemble transportation networks and warehousing. Severe disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, factory shutdowns, surging demand for Asian manufactured goods, and shortage of shipping containers have played a role in such delay. CEO at BC Trucking Association, Dave Earle, says that “because we run in a world of lean production with just-in-time delivery everything gets held up.” If a product needs five precursors, it may be the case that there are three available and two unavailable. Then, nothing would move until everything is available.
Insufficient land space and just-in-time delivery are two of the biggest problems responsible for most disruptions in the Canadian supply chain. These, however, can be solved by “fast-tracking key transportation infrastructure projects,” according to Lieberman.
Here are five simple fixes so as to save time and money and operate efficiently.
1. Plan Ahead
Most Canadian eCommerce enterprises face common shipping problems. By planning ahead, overcoming problems in the shipping process will be much less of a hassle. Walmart Canada planned supply issues by stocking early. Making early purchases helped with providing extra lead time for moving goods. “Canada as a whole is impacted by these global supply chain challenges, however, not to the same degree as the U.S.,” Adam Grachnik, Director Of Corporate Affairs at Walmart Canada, said. “We planned for supply chain issues by buying up and buying earlier than ever before. By buying earlier and accounting for extra lead time to move goods, we will be well-positioned for the season.”
2. Allocate Extra Lead Time
Like Walmart, the Lamour Group is also allocating extra lead time as a way of planning ahead. The Lamour Group is a company that imports clothing for the retailer Joe Fresh. Their managing director, Martin Lieberman, says that the pandemic changed the way timelines were allocated at the company for customer purchases all the way to door-step delivery. Earlier they would allocate 120 days. Later last year during the pandemic, this number upped to 180 days. “Whereas our in-transit inventory was previously 10 percent, it’s probably 40 percent today. It’s like a broken leg, we have to learn how to deal with it,” he said.
3. Shorten supply chain production
An advantage of using just-in-time manufacturing is that you’re close enough to suppliers. The best way forward is to, therefore, shorten the supply chain with on-shoring production. This means that warehouses need to cut out long-distance shipping to build resilience.
4. Work With An Account Manager
Minor delays in the shipping process come from inadequate communication with manufacturers and suppliers. Whether finding suppliers or getting your first samples delivered, your best bet around the communication is to opt for a partner with the facility to source products and project manage everything to plan. Account managers facilitate this role perfectly. Resource-friendly account managers are hard to find but worth the hunt. With an extensive network in the logistics industry necessary to prepare and plan, account managers can seamlessly carry out conversations with the people responsible for manufacturing your products.
Floship is a logistics service provider with resource-friendly, efficient account managers for every project.
5. Work Around Environmental Damages
Just-in-time delivery deals with pre-existing orders. Therefore, it doesn’t do well with the unexpected, especially environmental damages. Ocean transport can bring about high humidity levels. This means the electronics may corrode or have internal damage. Humidity indicator cards, moisture-barrier packaging, and desiccants just-in-time manufacturing.
Ecommerce enterprises need a logistics company to work with for seamless execution. Floship is a logistics company with a simplified, all-in-one fulfillment solution for eCommerce and SMEs. Here, we help global eCommerce brands take control of their supply chain. We offer competitive rates and a range of services to suit your needs. Contact Floship today to get started.
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