Establishing A Resilient Supply Chain

Global supply chains have been experiencing massive disruption resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, climate change weather events, and recessionary environments. We have learned that the supply chains of the world were highly efficient but not very resilient. Supply chain resilience can be measured in its ability to adapt when faced with idiosyncratic localized disruptions or larger scale systemic disruptions. Resilience can be increased through better supply chain data collection and utilization, implementing redundancy, increasing ability to substitute inputs, improving communication, improving cyber security, and utilizing AI (The White House, 2023).

Data: Real-time data analytics can enhance your ability to forecast demand volatility and identify potential supply chain bottlenecks. (KPMG, 2022) According to a recent Deloitte survey, 76% of manufacturers are adopting digital tools to gain enhanced transparency into their supply chain (Coykendall, 2023).

Redundancy: A broader diversity of suppliers will allow you to pivot more efficiently should an important supplier experience disruption. A plan should be in place outlining how the supplier network will shift and what the specific implications will be on timing and costs before a disruption occurs (KPMG, 2022).

Substitution: Sometimes the product can be modified in order to allow for more supply chain resilience (The White House, 2023). In the world of Hydrogen Electrolysis, we are actively researching new technologies that will allow us to manufacture high functioning electrolyzer assemblies without platinum, iridium, or any other precious metal inputs. This new technology will allow the manufacture of electrolyzers to be far more insulated against disruption.

Communication: Two thirds of global business leaders believe there needs to be increased visibility into their supply chains to maintain stability. True end-to-end visibility can only be achieved if the participants in the supply chain effectively communicate and share data (KPMG, 2022).

Cyber Security: Almost half of global organizations consider cyber security as an important operational challenge for their supply chains through the next 3 years. A supplier network can present many opportunities for cyber criminals to gain access into your systems. Cyber security will likely be negatively impacted by many of the other disruption-prevention-tactics including diversification by adding new suppliers, increased communication and data transfer between shipping partners, and the adoption of IoT-connected factory tools (KPMG, 2022).

AI: There are new inventory management systems available that utilize AI and Machine Learning to achieve a 20% reduction in inventory carrying costs and a 50% decrease in stockouts by increasing the accuracy of demand forecasting and optimizing transportation networks (Colehower, 2023). The adoption of new technologies among manufacturers might be the single most important factor in boosting supply chain resilience. Highly digital environments experience easier and more effective data sharing, transparency and communication both internally and between a company and it’s supply chain partners (Surenian, 2022).

ACS has a new Director of Strategic Sourcing, and we are working diligently to stay ahead of the technology curve and realize all of the resulting advantages. ACS’s global manufacturing operations in Europe, China, Mexico, and India all conform to the same standardized process, procedures and production equipment which grants us strong resiliency in the face of any supply chain challenges including ocean freight issues, natural calamities, or changing economic policies. Because of this diversified network we can embrace nearshoring, LCC, or any other supply chain strategy that promises to benefit our customers. Give us a call today to find out how we can make the perfect components for your systems without delays or disruptions.