Supply Chain Disruptions Could Cost European Economies Up to €920 Billion in GDP by 2023, According to Accenture Report - Seite 2

• Resilience: Supply chains must be able to absorb, adapt to and recover from disruptions whenever and wherever they occur. Improved dynamic visibility, risk identification, and mitigation solutions will enable companies to respond to sudden supply chain changes. Scenario planning and risk and opportunity analyses will help them adapt to evolving supply and demand. Network modeling and simulation, stress tests, strategic buffer sizing, and multi-sourcing options will allow organizations to manage uncertainties.

• Relevance: Supply chains will need to be customer-centric and agile so they can quickly and cost-effectively adapt to changes in demand. Capturing new data sets, including real-time data, from inside and outside the organization and across the value chain will be critical. Automation and artificial intelligence will allow organizations to identify new data patterns rapidly to better inform decision-making. Moving from centralized, linear models of supply to decentralized networks that use on-demand production, and in some instances, bringing production closer to the point of sale, can help organizations better meet customer expectations for order fulfilment.

• Sustainability: Modern supply chains need to support, if not accelerate, organizations’ sustainability agendas. To gain the trust of stakeholders, organizations must make their value chains transparent; one way to do this is through blockchain or similar technology.​ A shift from linear processes to closed-loop, circular processes that minimize waste will also be key.

“Visibility across the supply networks, including tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers is critical,” said Kris Timmermans, who leads Accenture's Supply Chain & Operations practice. “Companies must move from a just-in-time to a just-in-case approach, diversifying supply bases, planning alternative freight routes, making distribution centers flexible and building inventory. It comes at a price, but it is an ‘insurance policy’ against future shocks. The key is investing in new technologies to better use data — from digital twins and analytics to supply chain control towers — across the Cloud Continuum, which provides vast computing power in a cost-effective, flexible and sustainable way.”