YOUR BUSINESS DEPENDS ON THE CONTINUITY OF SUPPLYIn this episode of What The Duck?!, we chat with Anna McGovern, the Founder and Managing Director of Pondview Consulting. Unforeseen events can completely derail a supply chain, so Anna discusses the concept of value stream mapping and the need to have tiers of suppliers that can provide alternative sources of raw materials.Anna suggests that small and mid-sized manufacturers focus on their top 10 and develop their relationships with these suppliers. Start a conversation that covers your baseline needs and work together to identify the parts of the process where waste can be reduced. Anna also shares the Should Cost Analysis and how to perform it.MOMENTS TO DUCK AROUNDAnna: Understand where you source your most vital components"If I break it down to all of the components, what you'll find sometimes if you don't have a proper understanding of the value chain, a single ingredient that's meaningless could shut you down. So what you need to do is you need to break this, so you take your finished product, you break down the individual components, and then you have to map them all the way through at least tier two supply base."Anna: Create a deeper relationship with your most critical suppliers"It can't be, I've got a transactional relationship, I've got a demand on the floor. I'm going to have a PO clerk cut a purchase order and hand it over to the supplier. So you need to look again. You're valuing your most important materials from a direct standpoint, a direct spend standpoint, whether it's spend or this is the most critical item in my product, whatever it is. So where am I going to source these from?"Connect with Anna and learn what she’s been duckin’ around with:Anna McGovern | WebsiteConnect with Sarah and find out more about what the duck she’s up toLinkedIn | Twitter | SourceDay | SourceDay.comHad fun with the podcast? Leave us a like, share our content, and subscribe! See you soon on the next episode of What The Duck?!