The Covid-19 outbreak is but one of many shocks that led to multiple demand and supply stressors affecting supply chains worldwide. Given the recurrent and diverse risks of natural and man-made disruptions, supply chain and logistics, and it’s resilience its innovation, became hot topics. Now we know, supply networks make our world. They will also make or break our future. They are the “blood flow” of our economy and society.

A practical example of a wake-up call: our flow of goods was interrupted during the pandemic with the suspension of container services, freight reroutes and “blank sailings”, where global shipping companies were ordering vessels to skip entire strings of ports. This led to an increase in transportation and storage costs and the abnormal risk of failure to deliver and to fulfill contractual obligations.

Managements need to understand these risks and help shape contingency plans, build well thought-out and agile solutions for future supply chains while not adversely impacting existing operations:

– What is the extent of the current crisis and how are businesses responding?

– How can businesses evolve and build flexibility to deal with future disruptions?

– What are the critical questions that organisations must ask?

Speaker:

Kuntha Chelvanathan | APAC Supply Chain and Procurement Transformations Leader, IBM