Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1479191
76 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2022 Article by Dan Beaulieu D.B. MANAGEMENT GROUP e great business thought leader Margaret Heffernan commented that we are changing from just-in-time ( JIT) to just-in-case ( JIC). As we've worked our way through the issues of the past two years, the world is changing from a complicated to a complex system, and we must be prepared to face the challenges it brings. During the past 10 to 20 years—and espe- cially the past 20 months—we have learned how unpredictable and volatile the world has become. Not only the business world, but everywhere. Who ever thought there would be a shortage of anything? Could we have imagined an epi- demic that literally brought us to our knees? Who thought that Russia would start another 1940s-style war? We thought we were done with that, didn't we? Who could predict what would happen next? ink of owning a factory The New World Order of JIC that produces plastic straws and bottles, one day your products are deemed a serious threat to the environment, and your company looked at as a pariah? To survive today, we need the JIC mental- ity. We must be prepared for the unexpected. No longer can we rely on cycles and patterns to predict the future, or what we might be able to handle based on what that future brings. Now we must prepare for the unexpected. We must be flexible and able to adapt to whatever comes our way. It means we must prepare ourselves for any change. Not only must you have more than one solution, supplier, or partner, you need many of each. For example, many of us depended on China for almost everything, and now we must diversify our supply chain for those same things.