The concluding session about supply chain challenges of the 2020s from Covid-19 to trade Wars to actual wars. 

The increasing de-globalisation of international commerce has been accelerated due to a number of factors, including the ongoing trade wars and the invasion of Ukraine. The disruption of global supply chains – arising from factors such as the shortage of raw materials and commodities, and also due to trade barriers and restrictions to the movement of people – has caused inflation and has impacted global businesses. Re-shoring, nearshoring and friend shoring strategies have helped businesses to increase supply chain resilience and optimise processes of manufacturing and distribution along the supply chain. Specific consideration will be given to industries more impacted by these important trends and the possible solutions will be discussed by our expert panel. 

One such solution is the impact of new technology, such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In the next few years, the potential of generative AI could boost the operating profits of many industries, including the apparel, fashion and luxury sectors, as well as global manufacturers. The deep-learning models are developed on vast, unstructured data sets that applications can use to handle numerous complex tasks.

The ‘chat’ function of these generative AI tools can help, for instance, a biotech company ask questions that help it with demand forecasting. By doing so, the company can run ‘what-if’ scenarios on getting specific chemicals for the products or for what might happen if certain global shocks or other events occur that change or disrupt daily operations.

Risk management may be the most promising area, particularly in preparing for risks that supply chain planners haven’t considered.

Incorporating generative AI into companies’ supply chain forecasting, production planning and risk management will result in optimisation of the production systems.

Our panel will examine the legal challenges arising, and share their views on how generative AI can possibly resolve or mitigate the supply chain challenges of the early 2020s disruptors.