10-10-2024
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Council of Supply Chain Management’s EDGE Conference alongside 12 students in the Daniels School’s Global Supply Chain Management master’s program. While the conference was full of opportunities to hear from industry leaders through keynotes and learning sessions, the informal coffee breaks and networking sessions are where I really got to take the pulse of the industry.
The looming East Coast port strike was a hot topic, and though it has since been averted, it exemplifies a larger theme on everyone’s mind: supply chain resilience. Since the unprecedented pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, organizations have had a strong focus on mitigating events that disrupt global supply chains. However, in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 shocks, the conversation seemed to be about predicting and quickly responding to interruptions. Many software companies leapt into action, offering advanced forecasting tools that promised early warnings and real-time modeling tools that would enable rapid response.
If this year’s EDGE Conference is any indication, more supply chain leaders, along with academics and policymakers, are now talking about preventing supply chain disruptions in the first place. While few have the power to stop a global pandemic or prevent a tsunami, many organizations are rethinking the design of their supply networks and examining the trade-offs between minimizing cost and minimizing risk.
Producing domestically, developing a local supplier base, and using alternate transportation routes are all options that can decrease the chances of a supply chain disruption. While it remains to be seen whether organizations are truly ready to commit to these higher-cost options, the conversation shows a growing acknowledgement that technology solutions alone cannot usher in true supply chain resilience.
Amy David is a Clinical Professor of Management in the Supply Chain and Operations Management area at Purdue’s Mitch Daniels School of Business. She teaches experiential learning courses in operations management, as well as undergraduate and graduate courses in production planning and control and supply chain management.
