The global pandemic has underscored this mandate for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers alike. Organizations that were able to successfully respond to the disruption and continue their operations during the COVID crisis focused on basic supply chain functions like production, inventory, transportation, and purchasing—and by aligning all partners across the network. As part of that process, companies started paying closer attention to the individual stock keeping units (SKUs) and parts that came together to make up their end-to-end supply chains.

Here’s how these challenges are making an impact on shippers and some advice on how to overcome these issues.