Improving efficiency
This may be problematic if your business is too large to keep track of knowing what is and what is not important. If this is the case, delegate this role into departments or into sectors and have them identify what is needed. This method is considered effective since each group is specialized, therefore know more about their necessities in keeping their own part functional.
Start from entry functions through to exit functions and then reverse this to ensure gaps are identified and mitigated. Next, identify critical components. How you identify what is a critical component is simple. Just ask yourself if this person or equipment is vital to your business survival. If ‘yes’ then it’s critical.
Reliability
If your organization offers a range of products or services, then it’s important to identify what product/services make up most of your revenue. Once identified and examined, look at how you could provide tools and backup the components in order to maintain production. No matter the kind of supply chain method used, reliability can be assumed if stakeholders cooperate.
For example, Just In Time (JIT) is an inventory system where supplies are delivered on schedule. If done right, this minimises inventory size and overheads, and increases efficiency. The drawback is if the infrastructure that delivers supplies is unavailable (due to natural or man-made disasters), this would disrupt the delivery on schedule. Meaning no inventory to work with. Cooperating with stakeholders such as other local businesses or competitors to negotiate shared storage facilities with backup inventory is a form of reliability. Sometimes that backup component may come handy when a sudden surge of demand overwhelms your usual production components.