“China Plus One” diversification provides resilience benefits, but only when implemented strategically:
Benefits:
- Allows order shifting between regions based on capacity availability
- Reduces single-point-of-failure risk
- Provides negotiating leverage with suppliers
Common Mistakes:
- Assuming Southeast Asian facilities are independent (they’re not—they rely on Chinese materials)
- Failing to pre-position materials across regions
- Not coordinating restart timing between suppliers
Success Formula:
True resilience requires:
- Multi-regional supplier relationships
- Advance material positioning at all locations
- Coordinated production scheduling
- Understanding of upstream dependencies
Simply having suppliers in multiple countries is not enough—you need operational coordination and material flow management across your entire network.
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