Over the past 12 months, the overwhelming majority of manufacturing enterprises have experienced supply chain disruptions of one sort or another, although more than half have managed to navigate their way around the problems one way or another. It’s not a case of “if” but rather a question of “when” and how seriously it will impact the business.
Manufacturing has, in a process that has lasted decades, become dependent on global supply chainsand now, more than ever, we are dealing with the consequences of that dependency. The impact of disruptions is difficult to quantify, but conservative estimates suggest that the cost of the Ukraine war has already cost the world economy $400 billion; the impact of the coronavirus lockdowns in China cost, again at a conservative estimate, $46 billion per month; and the semiconductor shortage has cost the automotive industry $210 billion in lost revenue. Other lesser but significant disruptions have been caused by flooding and