Having the right supply chain in place at the right time—i.e., when you need it—is critical.

Each industry has a unique set of requirements for its supply chain. Your supply chain lives or dies on velocity and it runs into trouble when even one link in the chain fails to keep pace with the rest. This is important in all industries, but is of paramount importance, for example, to high-tech companies. In the high-tech space, this week's gizmo can become yesterday's news faster than you can say "beta max."

Chief among the supply chain's needs is flexibility. Although flexibility is an overused word in the logistics lexicon, it's a simple fact of life in distribution that you must have the operational capacity to stop or turn on a dime. The technology supply chain highway throws high-speed curves into the channel without warning. Meanwhile, the distribution industry that supports this industry gets to go along on this wild ride. Only the agile have the ability to maneuver successfully through the marketplace and take advantage of the resulting supply chain turbulence.

No matter what industry you serve, IT capability and depth is fundamental to successful logistics engagements. In the high-tech arena, data requests about a product and its components are often as important to the end-customer as the physical distribution of the product itself. The ability to electronically link systems, forecasts, technical and engineering information is critical—otherwise a penny part on its way out of production has the potential to bring a manufacturing pipeline to a halt.

In looking at your supply chain, you want partners who can grow with you. The ability to seamlessly take a new logistics plan from a small, local pilot program to global service is often the difference between being an effective niche service provider and being a global logistics solutions provider.

Speed of execution is another critical factor in the high-tech supply chain. While speed of execution might sound synonymous to velocity, we at Avnet look at these things differently. Where velocity deals with the ability to process transactions, speed of execution addresses the ability to move from the conceptual phase to a fully deployed service; from the first discussion with the customer to fully implemented solutions. Experience, resources, knowledge, integrated systems and highly skilled personnel are required to achieve this.

Anyone can ship everything overnight just about anywhere in the world—but that's not enough. With global reach comes global complexity. The ability to understand and manage the unique transportation challenges of each global region, or even each country within a given region, and to manage the data and security requirements of these high-tech products makes the logistics/transportation function a pivotal success factor.

Complex services plus global reach add up to success only with established, successful and effective supply chain partnerships. Long-term supply chain relationships give the high-tech logistics provider the capacity to leverage production capacity, strength and knowledge—ingredients critical for long-term effectiveness—and provide high-tech companies the total logistics solution that they need. When you've got the right stuff, the sky's the limit.