Navigating Uncertainty: Supply Chain Management in Turbulent Times
Navigating Uncertainty: Supply Chain Management in Turbulent Times
COMPANY INSIGHTS | MAY 20, 2025
Maury Fredricks, Grand Haven Kite Festival, May 18, 2025
We work with leadership teams in strategy planning and workshops. Our facilitated workshops focus on product innovation, service business modeling, and team development. We have helped clients construct plans to learn about end users, create new product categories, and improve team collaboration. This segment of our consulting work has been key to building solid relationships and helping companies grow revenue and improve returns on investment through turbulent times.
Case Study: Workshop to Explore a Supply Chain Pivot
We recently met with a client to discuss pressing supply chain challenges resulting from government policies and the shifting tariff landscape. This client works with several global suppliers with infrastructure and established manufacturing in Asia, Europe, and the USA. The end products are then boxed and shipped to ports for distribution to retail stores. The company is researching ways to build a domestic supply chain with minimal disruption to the existing business model.
At the time of our review, tariffs were 145% for imported products from China. Simple math translates to unacceptable business costs without passing the costs on to the retailer and end customers. The tariff structure has changed since our meeting, but the economic uncertainties remain unchanged.
During our brief workshop, we shifted quickly from discussing reducing costs and enhancing product features to exploring ways to pivot with the supply chain while remaining focused on the end customer and retail channel customers.
Over an hour, we reviewed the challenges, organized the primary areas of focus, and captured detailed action items and estimated deadlines for completion of assignments.
The action items included:
Develop a detailed breakdown of the existing manufacturing, assembly, shipping, and retail steps.
Calculate the estimated annual units forecast to determine risk and opportunity.
Gather data on the commercial structure, including:
Our sell price to retail and estimated unit sales for Y1-Y3 going forward
Rough cost targets for a product in a box or target margins for each unit
Estimated gross profit margins = ROI for investment and timeline
Forecasted returns to shift the supply chain to a hybrid model
Storyboard the risk v. opportunity of disrupting the supply chain
Our collaborative review of the opportunity and challenges leveraged deep experience and an open mindset to organize an objective viewpoint of a strategic shift with established suppliers to meet shifting short-term market demands.
Although we have not yet engaged on the project, our open discussion with a key client and long-time friend reminded us of the importance of following strategy while remaining flexible in executing activities to achieve business goals.
Maury Fredricks, Costa Rica, November 2023
Key Takeaways
Strategic planning, disciplined execution, and flexibility are key to success in uncertain times. We work hard to apply these fundamentals to our business in turbulent and calm waters.
Please get in touch with us for an open discussion of your challenges. We look forward to working with your team in the future!
Maury Fredricks
CEO
Fredricks Design, Inc.
