Ukraine cri­sis cur­rent­ly exac­er­bat­ing

raw mate­r­i­al short­ages in Germany 

First­ly, it is advis­able to reduce the com­plex­i­ty of the sup­ply chain in order to mit­i­gate the effect of exter­nal influ­enc­ing fac­tors (puni­tive tar­iffs, sanc­tions, etc.). For exam­ple, deci­sion-mak­ers should rethink their cur­rent just-in-time strate­gies and take the ware­house off the road, at least in part. Keep­ing crit­i­cal com­po­nents such as rub­ber com­pounds or pre­cur­sors in stock can give rub­ber pro­cess­ing com­pa­nies the time to take coun­ter­mea­sures in cri­sis sit­u­a­tions with­out hav­ing to accept pro­duc­tion losses.

It is also advis­able to restruc­ture sup­ply chains, with a stronger focus on Cen­tral and West­ern Euro­pean sup­pli­ers. Local part­ners can react more quick­ly in times of cri­sis, as their trans­port routes are short­er and their goods hard­ly have to cross bor­ders or bot­tle­necks. In addi­tion, there is less risk of trade con­flicts with­in the EU, which could affect sup­ply relationships.

In addi­tion, com­pa­nies should mon­i­tor geopo­lit­i­cal devel­op­ments more close­ly. Con­flicts and crises often take a long time to emerge, giv­ing deci­sion-mak­ers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to react in good time. How­ev­er, this requires pre­cise mon­i­tor­ing of the polit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion in the coun­tries with which the orga­ni­za­tion main­tains trade rela­tions, as well as up-to-date infor­ma­tion on the state of diplo­mat­ic rela­tions and poten­tial caus­es of conflict.

Diver­si­fi­ca­tion of the sup­ply chain is also advis­able, espe­cial­ly in terms of geo­graph­ic dis­tri­b­u­tion. It is worth­while to have sup­pli­ers in dif­fer­ent coun­tries on hand in order to be able to switch to oth­er, non-sanc­tioned trad­ing part­ners in cri­sis sit­u­a­tions. Although this goes against the trend toward sup­pli­er con­sol­i­da­tion in the indus­try, it does cre­ate sta­bil­i­ty. When in doubt, com­pa­nies must weigh both sides against each other.