Our General Manager Mehmet Apak evaluated the risks and opportunities in the supply chain brought along by the pandemic in the file entitled “How will COVID-19 impact the new supply chain?” prepared by TimReport magazine, the official publication of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, and shared his views on the changing and growing significance of purchasing and supply chain management.
Stating that the benefits and necessity of digitalization are clearly seen with the impact of the pandemic and that digital applications are gaining momentum, Mehmet Apak said, “Ensuring uninterrupted flow of goods and achieving the right costs through multimodal and rail transport, using facilitating technologies such as robotic automations in processes, as well as cognitive technologies such as artificial intelligence, and access to competent human resource from all over the world will be opportunities that support us in overcoming the long and complex road ahead.” Considering international regulations such as the EU’s Green Agreement and major regional agreements as opportunities to bring new perspectives to supply chain management, Apak noted that all these regulations will be a risk factor for actors who cannot adapt or remain outside.
Stating that the ambiguity and fluctuations in demand and changes in commodity prices and exchange rates will also challenge supply chains as significant risks, Apak said, “Our chance to avoid all these risks and turn processes into opportunities will be to create purpose- and trust-oriented ecosystems and to implement long-term, strategic cooperation. Keeping in mind a risk scenario such as the pandemic, where all resources, all borders, and all tools can be affected, we must seize the opportunities ahead of us well.”
Emphasizing that the scope of purchasing and supply chain management processes have changed and that they have turned into an expertise that needs to be managed with a strategic perspective at every stage from process analysis to reporting, from supplier management to catalog management, Apak said, "In 2020, the value that we provide to our customers and the role we assume have increased much more, especially with the impact of the pandemic. During this period, we managed to be a safe haven for both our customers and our suppliers, whom we consider our solution partners, in the face of risks. We continued to sustain and even strengthen our ecosystem under difficult circumstances with the strength we received from our trust-based, transparent business partnerships. In 2021, we aim to increase the value we create with our services and to grow our ecosystem with a greater number of business partners, taking into account the risks and natural opportunities.”
