The white paper discusses the importance of having supply chain strategy on the primary integration agenda, as it can be a fundamental value driver for a company. Additionally, when companies combine, the supply chain itself will have to adapt to potentially different suppliers, operating procedures, warehouse locations, etc.

The authors make several key points about how to overcome supply chain challenges when dealing with a merger:

The imperatives for true and lasting success with supply chain integrations are few; yet their achievement is challenging. The real keys to success in integrating supply chains in M&A are:

• Assign strong and experienced team leaders;
• Focus on enabling the business and operations strategies;
• Decide on the new organization and processes with the right criteria;
• Apply sound principles and best practices to all the work; and
• Establish a performance-based culture and a self-assessing DNA.

To learn more, please download the full white paper here.

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Declining imports as companies review their supply chain strategies;

Continued market consolidation and acquisition activity; and,

Green products and companies in the solar, wind, and geothermal space.

So, good news! However this will not come without challenges. Mr. Gwizdak states that the biggest challenge for manufacturers will come from “the complex supply chain with global operations, logistics, warehousing and reduced time available for new product introduction and time to fulfill a customer order.” Not too surprising. Anytime a company increases operations or expands globally, there will be new supply chain issues that need to be addressed. And, most importantly, the more complex a supply chain is, the more imperative it becomes to communicate with trading partners so that no one is left out of the loop.

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