Unavailable or obsolete inventory, inability to scale, and poor visibility are just a few of the supply chain challenges that have resulted in serious delays in AV projects in recent years. However, while these disruptions can be painful, they can also be valuable. That’s because they serve as a wake-up call that the traditional distribution model needs to evolve.
Increasingly, integrators are finding that by involving their global distribution partner earlier in the planning process, they can help reduce many of the supply chain headaches that come with implementing AV technology on time and on schedule. This new model, called the strategic point of distribution (SPOD), can even support business goals like sustainability by minimising waste, simplifying logistics and providing greater visibility into supply chain activities.
By understanding this model, integrators can make the most of their distributor relationship to increase efficiencies, save time and reduce costs in their AV projects.
CHAIN TURBULENCE
Born from recent supply chain turbulence, and a need to better support end users, the SPOD model engages distribution partners earlier in AV projects to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks.
From planning and design to integration and use, the process for deploying new AV technology can be long and labour-intensive. Traditionally, distributors haven’t been tapped until late in the process when it’s time to procure materials. By involving the distributor partner earlier, however, they can help streamline sourcing and inventory management in the design phase, enhance and test product offerings before they’re delivered onsite, and help reduce the labour required for installation.
Involving a distributor partner earlier in the process allows them to better understand the end user’s needs and requirements for a given project. This can help the distributor to leverage their scale to source the right products at the right price and deliver them at the right time, so the project can stay on schedule and on budget, which has often been challenging the last few years.
Distributor partners have greater insight in identifying and resolving potential problems before they become costly disruptions. For example, they may be able to identify potential supply chain bottlenecks that could impact the end user’s project timeline, or quality issues that may lead to products being returned.
Current distribution processes for AV technology and infrastructure can include many vendors, contractors and partners. By bringing in a trusted distributor early in the process, they can streamline the number of vendors involved and minimise the risk of missing project deadlines. A single strategic distribution partner can also give integrators full insight into process coordination, including shipping and inventory management, which can help improve labour efficiency.
Cost savings for integrators and end users
At the end of the day, distributors and integrators share a common goal: to optimise supply chain operations and deliver products to their customers efficiently and cost-effectively. By engaging with a distributor earlier in the process, integrators have the opportunity to reduce material and labour costs over the duration of the project.
By engaging with a distributor partner earlier in the design process, integrators can help minimise potential supply chain or logistics issues that could be caused by product lead times. It can also help streamline back-office processes by reducing the number of invoices and shipments.
Taking advantage of this partnership during the design process can also help save costs related to labour and technology deployment. Distributors have deep expertise in the complex technology they provide, so leveraging their knowledge can help simplify what is being delivered to the site and the labour that is needed for setup.
This is done through pre-kitting, a material-management strategy used to consolidate multiple vendor products or components into pre-packaged and pre-labeled solutions. These can also be assembled into a solution that arrives onsite as a single package and is listed on the bill of materials (BOM) as a single line item. That solution can be packaged and labelled in a way that makes it easy to immediately know what it is when it arrives on site and what floor or even what room it should go to.
This saves time and money for integrators onsite, who can now focus on more critical, labour-intensive tasks rather than manual assembly functions.
SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS
A strategic point of distribution model can also reduce environmental impacts, which is becoming especially important for end users. Kitting services help eliminate waste for integrators and end users. This typically reduces the number of deliveries as well, which helps reduce overall fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Some distributor partners are even leveraging measurement and reporting opportunities to showcase the sustainability benefits of this distribution model. Dashboards that track supply chain activity for sustainability and ESG purposes can help end users make more informed decisions that can help reduce their carbon footprint or make progress towards other sustainability goals.
A strategic partnership with a trusted distributor under the strategic point of distribution (SPOD) model can pay dividends for integrators and end users. By understanding the SPOD model, all parties can help increase efficiencies, save time and reduce costs both in the supply chain and onsite where the technology is being installed.
