Supply chain resilience is critical amid global uncertainty. Businesses must prioritise flexibility and planning to manage disruption, maintain continuity, and support industries relying on stable, responsive supply networks, according to Ruth Cobb, chief executive officer of PrintNZ.
While I hope that by the time you read this the crisis has de-escalated, the contents remain relevant. Supply chain resilience isn’t about predicting when a disruption will happen, it is about being prepared for when it does.
One of the big lessons that came out of the Covid crisis (much as I don’t like using those two words) was the importance of supply chain resilience and where the pain points might be in a time of disruption. Now, as we face increased operational complexity due to the Middle East crisis, hopefully the lessons learned in 2020 will serve us well.
Longer shipping times, uncertain logistics and constantly changing market conditions require more active management than many businesses have traditionally applied. Where supply chains were optimised for cost and efficiency, the current environment adds the dimensions of availability and reliability. While fuel and raw material supplies remain stable in most cases, this could change on a dime if the conflict continues or escalates, particularly given our location and how interwoven global energy and freight systems are.
The current issue with fuel is more of a price problem than a supply problem at the moment, but these two issues are interconnected. Higher prices naturally suppress demand, which in turn helps stabilise supply. However, if prices were to ease and demand increases again, we could quickly find ourselves facing genuine supply constraints. It is a delicate balancing act and one that sits largely outside the control of individual businesses, but has very real impacts on them.
Both the Government and individual businesses continue to refine their fuel response frameworks in order to provide greater clarity on trigger points, potential rationing, and where priority allocation will go should conditions deteriorate. Clarity in these frameworks is critical for enabling businesses to plan ahead with some degree of confidence rather than reacting in real time.
For print, it will be important that the Government understands the inter-connectedness of print to many of the vital industries that must keep operating, including food, health, transport and infrastructure, to name a few. Print is often viewed as a discretionary or end-product industry, but in reality it underpins packaging, labelling, compliance documentation and communications that are essential to keeping those sectors functioning. The current Government framework tends to focus on visible frontline or end-point services and can overlook the upstream suppliers and manufacturers that enable those services to operate effectively. As an industry association we are well placed to help identify businesses who are supplying genuinely critical goods and services.
For PrintNZ this will potentially become déjà vu of the conversations we had back in 2020, but at least we now have the benefit of hindsight and a window of time to engage proactively. That time should be used to reinforce the role of print within critical supply chains and to ensure it is appropriately recognised in any prioritisation decisions should restrictions be introduced.
Likewise, businesses should be thinking carefully about what they can put in place now to protect continuity of supply, rather than waiting for disruption to force reactive decisions. Resilience does not necessarily mean holding large amounts of stock or significantly increasing cost structures, it is more about understanding risk and building flexibility into the system.
There are several practical steps that businesses can take.
Firstly, mapping supply chains in more detail can help identify potential points of failure, particularly where key materials or components are sourced from a limited number of regions or providers.
Secondly, using your relationships with suppliers to have conversations about their own risks and contingency plans, and to be aware of early warning signals. It may even be possible to secure secondary suppliers or alternative material options as a back-up plan, just in case.
Operationally, one of the big ones is looking at how a business schedules production and logistics. Consolidating deliveries, aligning production runs, reducing reliance on just-in-time processes and reviewing customer expectations around delivery can help ensure that shortages/cost increases can be managed more sustainably.
Finally, understanding the “what if” scenarios with regard to both fuel prices and fuel supply and knowing the actions you will take at certain trigger points – know what you will do and communicate this to both your team and your customers so it is not a surprise to them.
The current environment is a reminder that while we cannot control external events, we can take steps to ensure we are prepared enough that when disruption occurs, we know what we have to do.
This article was first published in the May-June 2026 edition of Print21, page 36.