As events of recent years have amplified the vulnerability of global, interconnected supply chains, generative AI is an underused resource for spotting risk, extinguishing threats, and embedding greater resilience.
In partnership withDataiku
The outbreak of covid-19 laid bare the vulnerabilities of global, interconnected supply chains. National lockdowns triggered months-long manufacturing shutdowns. Mass disruption across international trade routes sparked widespread supply shortages. Costs spiralled. And wild fluctuations in demand rendered tried-and-tested inventory planning and forecasting tools useless.
“It was the black swan event that nobody had accounted for, and it threw traditional measures for risk and resilience out the window,” says Matthias Winkenbach, director of research at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. “Covid-19 showed that there were vulnerabilities in the way the supply chain industry had been running for years. Just-in-time inventory, a globally interconnected supply chain, a lean supply chain—all of this broke down.”
It is not the only catastrophic event to strike supply chains in the last five years either. For example, in 2021 a six-day blockage of the Suez Canal—a narrow waterway through which 30% of global container traffic passes—added further upheaval, impacting an estimated $9.6 billion in goods each day that it remained impassable.
