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Plans are nothing; planning is everything Too many teams start off the year by checking their risk assessment off the to-do list. They have everything mapped out and are glad to have it behind them. But… you need to dust that off throughout the year. You can't just let it sit. It needs to be a living document because things can change. No, scratch that. Things WILL change. Personally, I’m very invested in staying on top of risk mitigation. For me, I need to understand what types of risks we face. What is the likelihood of certain risks? How quickly might those risks manifest? If it’s a port strike, that can happen fairly suddenly. A natural disaster can happen instantaneously. A regulatory rollout? Well, there are some exceptions, but those typically have longer timelines. This is why the depth of your planning matters. Understanding how a threat may present will change your potential reaction. Remember, you can’t have a perfect plan for all threats. Every company has limited resources. So, it’s about deploying those resources strategically to make sure you target what really matters. If you have a part that’s mission critical, can you dual source it? Can you pull it from not only multiple factories but multiple countries? If you've got exposure in country A, do you also have supply in country B? It’s about finding a source of supply that makes sense within your risk environment and your strategic goals. 20
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Adaptability requires flexibility Planning for these risks is important, but making the plan is only half the battle. To be a great plan, it needs to be adaptable (and kept up to date). There might be risks that are likely to happen quickly, but they have a small effect. They’ll naturally be treated differently than something that has a longer lead time but, if it happens, could massively affect your business. cripple your work. This tends to give you a bit more flexibility. Other solutions beyond just that geographic piece could include building up safety stocks and designating alternative items. Can’t get your hands on item A? If you already have a substitute in your plan, you can keep things running. Maybe item B isn’t as ideal, but again, production uptime is king, right? Depending on which risk you’re trying to mitigate, you’ll have different steps to take. Trying to get ahead of freight congestion, port strikes, or natural disasters? You make need to change the geographic concentration of your supply base. With sources more spread out, a single event can’t There are multiple solutions, and they don't stand alone. They all work in concert. All these moving items blend together, so that when you have a specific event that affects a certain item, a certain region, a certain industry, you still have what you need. VOL. 2 - 2025 21
