Eight Ways to Capitalize on Supply Chain “Mainstreaming”

Supply chain, a once invisible and unknown subject outside business circles, now stands at the center stage of the global economy. Virus outbreaks halting factory production, cross-border shipment delays and port congestion are among the slew of disruptions setting the spotlight on the crucial role supply chains play worldwide. And while this newfound fame seems to look more like infamy, it does in fact provide interesting opportunities for radical change that will benefit businesses.

 “The topic of supply chain has never received so much attention and awareness by the public as it has in the past year,” says Stephen J. Meyer, principal director, supply chain & operations research, Accenture. “For the first time in my 26-year career as a supply chain professional, I don’t have to explain what I do for a living to my friends and family,” Supply chain – a once invisible, taken-for-granted business, now stands center stage in the realm of global economies – and has become ‘mainstreamed’.

With disruption comes opportunity

The supply chain is undergoing a fundamental change as a result of the biggest disrupter in the history of modern supply chain management and this article outlines eight key ways supply chains can capitalize on these opportunities, based on the best thinking on what radical steps to transformation might be.