To appreciate the task that U.S. policymakers and supply chain leaders are faced with in overcoming supply chain shortages, imagine trying to quickly and easily turn a ship around that’s the size of the Empire State building. (Carrier ships of this size have played prominent roles in the “Containergeddon” scenario recently seen in the LA and Long Beach ports.)

Such a ship represents nearly forty years of offshoring and dwindling domestic manufacturing capability, and this ship will not be turned around quickly or easily. It will take multiple years and billions of dollars to build new chip factories and ramp up production. In the meantime, demand for new tech is skyrocketing as the wheels of the fourth industrial revolution roll inexorably on.

For companies looking to capitalize on market opportunities by developing new digital products, this is a good but potentially troubling problem to have. At Pivot International, our industry-leading NPD expertise across fourteen industries, extensive experience in supply chain management, and multiple domestic and offshore manufacturing options help them successfully solve it.

There’s More Than One Way Around Supply Chain Shortages

As is now clear to most companies preparing to invest in NPD, the problem is that they can’t get across the finish line fast enough. After all, companies whose NPD has been in the works for over a year are often stalled in their tracks by chip unavailability or other supply chain shortages.

But although many of these challenges remain intractable for the near future, a significant percentage of companies can yet move their NPD successfully forward. How? With an innovative approach that many companies haven’t yet considered. At Pivot International, we’ve found this approach can overcome supply chain challenges in up to half of the products we’re developing.

A Different Kind of Question

You know the saying: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. With so much attention on supply chains right now, it’s easy for companies to expend needless time, energy, and capital trying to source what is essentially (for now) unsourceable. So, rather than companies repeatedly asking, How are we going to procure X, Y, or Z part, component, or raw material?” they need to ask a different kind of question: “What if we can get around needing X, Y, or Z in the first place?”

The Answer Lies in Innovative Engineering Hacks

What many companies don’t realize is that the solution to their supply chain challenges is often more likely to lie in innovative engineering hacks than in the procurement department. Provided their NPD partner possesses in-house Design-for-Manufacture (DFM) expertise, products can be engineered with the express aim of rending supply chain issues a non-starter.

At Pivot, the innovative engineering hacks we devise for our clients are undertaken with strict fidelity to product requirements, use case findings, functionality, performance, and quality standards. There’s no denying that there are some supply chain challenges we simply can’t out engineer. (And for clients in this situation, we continue to focus on timely procurement and mitigation strategies to protect their investment.) But in many cases, timely and affordable sourcing of alternative (yet equally desirable) parts, components, and raw materials is only a matter of successfully reconfiguring your product.

At Pivot, we bring nearly fifty years of proven experience, a portfolio of internationally award-winning products, and hundreds of clients that look to us as their go-to partner. If you’d like to learn more about we can help you overcome supply chain challenges, unstick your NPD, and achieve successful launch, contact us today.

We look forward to working with you!