Making a Change in a Turbulent Time

Making a change in a turbulent time

April 29, 2025
By Ryan Upshaw | 15 years of downstream experience

Despite everything in your newsfeed, the best time to make a change to your work is right now. It may seem counter-intuitive with all the uncertainty in the air, but that’s what makes this THE time to change.

For years, we’ve heard that “the next disruption is coming.” Well, it appears the pandemic was the learning curve for what we’re likely heading into.

Some organizations weren’t able to move fast enough (or at all) during COVID. Supplies were bottlenecked or simply unavailable. The lesson was that sourcing diversity is the future. Now, tariffs and potential trade wars are showing that single-country sourcing is a path to failure.

The truth of the moment is that you’re going to pay more for a product today than you did yesterday.

So, this is the perfect time to take a hard look at your largest bucket of expense: labor. Why wouldn’t you want to have as efficient a labor model as you possibly could for distributing and managing products?

Take MRO for example. I would never want to put that data in my ERP system, specifically in the consumable side of it. If I were looking at PPE, I’d want my vendor to own that information and tell me what we need to do in terms of rationalization or standardization.

I’d ask for help in becoming more efficient and diverse in the supply base. Plus, I’d look at controlling costs outside of the cost of goods. Here’s why this is the time to make it all happen.

Making a move

The biggest risk right now is focusing on the cost of goods when it doesn’t yield the results you need. That’s why this is such an important time. Go to market. Go measure your cost of goods because you have to. But look at partnering with a supplier.

The change management strategy that everyone’s going to have is to hold on to their seats or asking your supplier to bear the burden on cost increases. These are both all-too-common approaches, but instead of that, here’s an example you can target. If there’s a piece of your business today that’s outdated, it’s the low-hanging fruit. Say you have a storeroom that’s run by three or four people, and you’re averaging 500 or 600 transactions a day. You’re paying the labor, and you’re sitting on a ton of inventory.

My challenge to you is simple: Use the fact that prices are rising as the catalyst for improvement. Make people in your organization understand that this is a really good time to look at change from that perspective. Offer up that antiquated program or process and you become the person who was playing chess when everyone else thought the game was checkers.

THIS is the time to update. THIS is the time to free up your resources. THIS is the time to take back your labor.

The role of resiliency and agility

Everyone wants a resilient supply chain that’s agile. OK, but what does that really mean? To me, resiliency is consistency combined with the ability to roll with the punches. Resiliency means you have a reliable supply chain that can’t be undone by one event.

My favorite example is when KFC infamously ran out of chicken in the UK after switching to a partner who had only one logistics warehouse. Yes, they were hoping for cost savings, but they wound up with a self-inflicted bottleneck.

Agility is about how fast you can change. It’s the ability to pivot quicker than your competition. This can also apply to once you find something that’s working, how quickly you can lean into it.

Because we’re looking at a lot of potential volatility right now, there are different steps to take depending on the risk you’re trying to stay ahead of. You may need to build up safety stocks, designate alternative items, or even change the geographic concentration of your supply base. Another option is to partner with suppliers who handle all of this for you.

Taking these steps means you’ll have the resiliency needed to avoid having a single event cripple your supply chain, and when a problem does arise, you’re agile enough to adapt.

Start today for best results

I’ve been a part of more RFPs than I ever thought possible, but the experience has taught me how companies tend to view change. RFPs are filled with information like:

What locations are in scope.
How inventory vending can help.
Why data management will be improved.
What the pay structure will look like.

We find the information, build each RFP out, and then, my gut says something like 90 percent of people re-up with their current partner. We’re not surprised. Regardless of what kind of savings or improvements are sitting there in the document, taking the plunge is intimidating.

Why are so few companies making meaningful changes when the RFPs suggest positive outcomes?

My guess is that you, the real person who is attached to the decision, isn’t ready to stick your neck out for a potential benefit. I can’t blame you. Unless someone can SHOW that the change will be handled well and will TRULY lead to improvements, you’re right to be nervous.

Listen, change is always hard. But because of the instability we’re seeing, this is actually one of the best times to make a difference in the way your work is done. The next few months will be critical.

So, how quickly can someone come in, look at your entire process, understand it, propose changes that move the needle, and then deliver on that promise? You want someone who knows how to make changes happen in 90 days – or 120 at the max.

You want to partner with someone who has agility and can deliver resiliency. They need to help you start collecting data better.

If you want a hand with any of that, reach out. I can help you directly or you can work with whatever local Fastenal team is closest to you. We’re entering an era where the teams that truly drive change will do it because they stack resources, technology, and people right where they’re needed. That’s precisely what Fastenal does.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Dozens of customers in different industries have agreed to case studies with Fastenal. Each example highlights Fastenal’s change management capabilities and the customized service people expect from us.

Watch a video. Read a case study. Reach out to me. The biggest challenges are often the best way to find the biggest changes. Now’s the time to make your move.