A new manufacturing supply chain report outlining recommendations and indicators for potential disruption, the trends around reshoring and the role of emerging digital technology, has been published to help organisations navigate the choppy waters they’ve found themselves in for the past few years.
Researched and produced by The Manufacturer, in with the newly launched Digital Catapult Supply Chain Hub, the report also discusses the role of The Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Supply Chain Hub, a digital innovation ecosystem that empowers individuals and organisations to work together to make supply chains smarter.
At a time when a swathe of varying challenges are impacting the reliability and vulnerability of supply chains, in turn influencing lead times, inventory, production efficiencies and, in some instances, brand reputation, manufacturers need to ensure they are in a state of readiness for the next big disruption – which is a case of when rather than if.
Fortunately, manufacturers don’t have to wait to enhance and improve their supply chains and there are strategies that organisations of all sizes, from all sectors, can do to alleviate supply chain pressure and give them greater control and visibility within their processes.
Speaking in the report, Tim Lawrence, Director of the Digital Catapult Supply Chain Hub, commented: “The increasing globalisation of supply chains in the 21st century has led to more cost effective supply of goods and services, especially through low cost sourcing policies businesses have employed into Asia and Eastern Europe, but this approach has also increased the vulnerability of UK supply chains to global trade.”
