This month saw the U.S., UK and Australia signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on supply chain resilience. The MoU includes the establishment of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Supply Chain Resilience Cooperation Group to promote data sharing and joint action to build resilience in priority supply chains, identify and address risks, threats and disruption.
The Group is set to develop an early warning pilot focused on the telecommunications supply chain, essential for our global, digitized economies. Matt Gregory, managing director, north Europe, at Korber Supply Chain Software, explains that this memorandum underscores the importance of collaboration in enhancing supply chain resilience – both on a commercial basis - between supply chain partners - and on a governmental level. "Amid the recent global disruptions caused by health crises and geopolitical conflicts, it's reassuring that national governments continue to recognize the vital role of strong supply chains in maintaining the steady flow of essential goods," says Gregory. An enhanced capacity for data sharing and cooperation between nations, Gregory continues, means that potentially disruptive events can be identified and planned for in real-time.
The race towards supply chain resiliency has grown exponentially in the past 4 years and provoked logistics technology to grow too.
"Beyond reacting to supply chain disruptions, there is an opportunity to use emerging technologies to take a proactive approach in tackling international supply chain challenges. For example, Digital Twin simulation tools can enable governments to create holistic contingency plans to deal with a range of disruptions, while advanced analytics can help to pre-determine the best allocation of resources to maintain the flow of goods," explains Gregory.
As disruptions and geopolitical issues remain a heightened reality, the collaborative nature of government partnerships in support of the supply chain fosters more connection and emphasized the impact of data and technology for the future.
