The demand for batteries in energy storage applications has been on the rise for quite some time. With lower costs making it more affordable, the market is expected to grow nine times its size from 2017- 2022. According to a new report by the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), battery storage is on the cusp of a major growth spurt.
Supply Chain Challenges
While this growth is exciting, one challenge facing these demands is the state of the supply chain. Many issues have been impacting supply chains around the globe as businesses struggle to deal with the ripple effect the Covid-19 virus has had on the system. With no end in sight of the difficulties, companies need to be better prepared for the unpredictable future by implementing preventative and proactive measures:
Service Partner Collaboration – Leveraging the expertise of existing partners is a great way to close communication gaps and provide higher service, and customer experience levels to end-users. Successful collaboration can save time and money and also compress schedules to and reduce errors.
Follow the Trends – Constant questioning of processes and procedures will ultimately result in a better way of doing things. Forward-thinking and always asking “what is next” is key to a proactive approach to business that can positively support supply chain activity.
Communication – Never underestimate the benefits of frequent and clear communication. Transparent communication tactics can help build trust, develop relationships and fine-tune processes. With forecasting, in particular, good communication can shorten lead times, saving both time and money.
Maintaining Balance with Supply Chain Capacity – Staying ahead of needs with planning is a critical approach to maintaining a healthy supply chain. Proactive management of expansion rather than managing lack of production should be the focus for all companies facing supply chain struggles. Retaining some elasticity will allow businesses to plan for the unexpected.
Striving Towards Optimized Solutions
At MPINarada, our forward thinking has steered us to work towards migrating to modular and optimized solutions that allow us to be more flexible from small to large scale energy storage applications. Standardization provides economies of scale that can be achieved to save money, time and other benefits. This product optimization to streamline the offering improves communications with quicker response times and more accuracy to better serve the industry.
A Well Positioned Supply Chain to Meet Today’s Needs
MPINarada has been following these guidelines all along and as a result, are in a great position to support the needs of today within the battery market. As demand for batteries continues to increase, a proactive approach will help avoid disruption and shortages, keep costs down and in the end, provide customer satisfaction all around. As a practice, we balance our production to allow for non-forecasted opportunities and do not have any quantity commitment requirements. We take pride in being able to manage projects of any size due to our strategic planning and strong North American structure. Through our detailed focus on planning, our supply chain is well-positioned to meet the immediate battery needs for today and in the future.
Also of Interest: Maintaining Supply Chain Confidence
by MPINarada’s Michael Sirard, North American Clean Energy 2021.
