Another practical tip Schmid recommended is ensuring that the company has an export/import manual. “If customs officials conduct an audit, that is the first thing they will ask for. You would be surprised at how many companies don’t have that,” he said.
Fedele said, “Five years ago, we made a major decision that was a solution for us during this time. We consolidated 20 custom brokers into one.” The company now has one point of contact to address its logistics needs and this has streamlined the customs and tariffs compliance processes considerably.
Mitsui also implemented business process improvements and “end to end processing,” using AI to process certain documents in much less time than it takes to do them by hand.
“We had to become agile and flexible,” Fedele said. “The landscape is changing constantly.”
He said the company also is now trying to source more materials domestically—for example, they’ve gone from importing 90 percent of their steel to under 60 percent.
In terms of regulatory compliance, Enslen recommends companies review harmonized tariff system codes and country of origin determinations to make sure those are correct and complete.
“We’d also recommend companies lean on your customs broker and logistics company—that’s what they are there for. There’s a lot of overlap between legal and logistics,” he said.
Enslen also cautioned companies to pay close attention to sanctions compliance. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) oversees sanctions against 38 foreign countries, targeting such issues as counterterrorism, forced labor, and human rights concerns.
Scannapieco said companies need to map their supply chain to identify where potential bottlenecks may occur. From there, companies should replace financially insecure, unreliable, or other problematic vendors and build in redundancies where possible to address potential supply chain vulnerabilities.
Looking into the Crystal Ball—What is the Near Future of Global Supply Chains?
Schmid said the challenges facing global supply chains aren’t going away any time soon.
“What I’m hearing and reading is that the supply chain challenges will go into 2023,” Fedele said. “The stronger dollar and pent-up consumer demand will continue to drive demand.”
Enslen said that U.S. regulators will have a greater focus on large, substantive export violations rather than small problems.
“They’re going to be more aggressive to go after the willful and wanton violators,” he said. “One of the things we’re recommending is consulting with and having a relationship with government regulators. It’s to a company’s advantage to have a good relationship with regulators, so at least they know you are trying to do the right thing.”