Supply Chain Resiliency

For a number of years, I was heavily involved in disaster preparedness. I worked with federal and state governments and participated in industry groups focused on managing existing and emerging threats. I attended a number of conferences associated with disaster preparedness that focused on national, regional and state level preparedness. When Covid-19 first hit I pulled one of my workshop binders off of the shelf and read how the initial stages of the pandemic would occur with the associated impacts. ?

Global, national, and regional disasters are not an unknown variable. Globally, governments agencies across all levels plan and prepare for disasters. Every day WHO and CDC teams are racing around the globe stamping out potential pandemics. States plan and prepare for earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Fire agencies diligently put themselves in harm’s way suppressing fires that could bloom into full scale disasters. All of this is exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and global sourcing of the components and materiel needed to produce or manufacture even the most basic goods or capabilities required to maintain our modern society and lifestyles.

For almost 50 years, the worlds corporations focused on increasing profitability by maintain limited stocks on hand and using a “just-in-time” model for production. As the global manufacturing capabilities moved to this model, it created the potential for impacts like what was seen with Covid-19. When the system is working correctly, goods and services flow effectively, producing the worlds requirements while operating on razor thin stocks of materials and mechanism needed for production.

The global pandemic created a massive disruption in this process. ?The global ability to produce, transport, manufacture, and distribute goods was disrupted. However, this was not the only byproduct of the pandemic. There dozens of additional areas of potential impact and disruption that have been recognized that have been mostly ignored while retaining significant risk across the global community.

Critical vaccines and medications are produced in single global sites requiring chemicals and compounds not sourced locally. Nearly every global population center has less than a 3-day supply of food, medicine, and critical supplies with consistent manufacturing and transportation required to meet this need. The uncertainty and impact of natural disasters is difficult enough to prepare for. Human involvement from political uncertainty, economic and social activity, and malicious impact associated with ideology or financial gain has similar unpredictability with long term impact that is difficult to address and remediate.

Traditional corporate areas of business resiliency, disaster recovery and continuity of operations are all focus areas that need to be aligned and considered when developing a comprehensive supply chain assurance program.