The digitization of supply chains is introducing new demands on company operations that require a different approach to building supply chain resilience.
One critical issue is how to integrate new tools and systems into digital supply chains. Here are the main integration challenges, in order of importance:
Creation of robust information collection and sharing. Many enterprises, especially small companies, lack the technical skills and financial resources needed to build the required infrastructure. Also, a lack of standardization makes it difficult for companies to communicate across IT systems.
Exploit business intelligence rules. More work is needed to assess the risks associated with digital supply chains, develop business intelligence rules to manage these risks, and automate the underlying management processes.
Establish public/private sector partnerships. In the increasingly complex and demanding digital environment, governments rely more and more on private sector resources to secure supply chains.
Data confidentiality. Companies are uncertain about sharing sensitive information via a digital platform. One solution is to develop Dropbox-like technology that gives access to selected parties without the need to download data. Data resides on the owner’s site and is only shown to authorized parties as needed.
Cybersecurity. Hacking is an ever-present and increasing risk. Digital supply chains are vulnerable to security breaches by criminals such as cargo thieves. New technologies are needed to scan for cyberattacks and protect systems against infiltration. Emerging blockchain technology — which makes it easier to authenticate digital documents and verify the identity of trading partners — is one promising development.
The CORE project is developing and testing hardware and software technologies that collect data, and identify and monitor relevant supply chain risks.
See Automating Supply Chain Resilience for the full text of this article by Luca Urciuoli, Associate Research Professor at the Zaragoza Logistics Center.