From Chaos to Control: Mastering Global Supply Chains amid Tariffs

Free trade and protectionist trade policies are fluctuating significantly, causing unprecedented disruption to interconnected and interdependent supply chains in the US.

Supply-chain optimization now, more than ever, requires a dual-sourcing or multi-sourcing strategy that can minimize import taxes levied, while also minimizing lead times and product costs.

Dual Sourcing Strategies: Balancing Agility and Complexity in Global Supply Chains

While dual sourcing can provide the agility to balance these competing goals, these strategies also increase the complexity of managing suppliers and inventories, and they require more communication and coordination using time-intensive S&OP processes.

This approach may also increase costs due to the need for duplicate inventory.

Managing this added complexity in supply chains and global trade compliance teams requires reliable and accurate product information, including Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes, country of origin, and manufacturer information, all of which must be accurately and efficiently encoded in barcode labels.

Unlocking Supply Chain Potential: The Power of Barcoding

Barcoding is a foundational technology for building a resilient supply chain by providing visibility, efficiency, accuracy, and data-driven insights.

Accurate and reliable printing and scanning of barcode labels improves:

• Visibility and tracking of inventory levels, order statuses, and shipment ETAs, which helps to identify bottlenecks, predict disruptions, and inform decisions.
• Warehouse operations by reducing manual errors and improving efficiency in picking, packing, and shipping. This includes boosted accuracy with barcode inspection ODV-2D technology from TSC.
• Business intelligence through efficient data capture, enabling businesses to collect and analyze valuable insights into their supply chain performance.

Ready to Simplify Your Supply Chain?

It’s important to diversify your global supply chain in times of great uncertainty, and TSC and Bluebird are here to help with these challenges by offering durable, reliable, and high-performance barcode printers and rugged mobile devices with the lowest cost of ownership.

Download our global Supply Chain Solutions Guide today to learn about how these technologies are being used to simplify global supply chains and manage chaos.

Future-Proofing Your Supply Chain Strategy

While you continue to develop your dual-sourcing plans for critical raw materials, also consider the same strategy with your Operations and IT systems.

TSC and Bluebird manufacture nearly all of our hardware products in US-allied countries like Taiwan and Korea, and all our labels are manufactured domestically in the US.

Ready to get started? Contact us to discuss your specific supply chain challenges.