A brave new supply chain world is emerging – will you be at the vanguard?

Supply chains are vital to the smooth running of businesses. When they don’t work, the knock-on effects can be devastating – to business and society as a whole. 

Supply chains are designed to improve cost, capital, quality of delivery, operations, and service levels. They need to be robust and stable – leveraging existing capabilities to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. 

In the coming years, supply chains will need to undergo significant changes if they are to deliver value to businesses in what will be a complex, fast-moving, fragmented, consumer-centric environment. Now is the time to prepare to adapt and take action to initiate change so your supply chain can evolve to meet the challenges of changing geopolitical conditions, customer demand and regulation – not to mention the increase in personalization and the need to embrace sustainability and the circular economy. 

From rigid and reactive to nimble and active – the supply chain of the future 

By 2035, supply chain and operations will be localized, minimalist and virtual, according to our proprietary insights. This will be driven by sustainability and the integration of data-driven artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and virtual reality. All this will combine to revolutionize logistics and transport to improve processes and enhance efficiency. Companies will operate within a highly interconnected and automated ecosystem, optimizing every aspect of the supply chain in real time. 

We envision a radical shift of global supply chains to atomized “Centers of Gravity”. Here are the four statements that articulate our view of how the supply chain of the future will be radically different from today. 

We believe that individual supply chain components will be propelled into multiple Centers of Gravity. This will be driven by the convergence of resilient supply chain strategies, the circular economy, reduced energy costs driven by sustainability, and lowered entry barriers for local and virtual production, thanks to digital technologies.

Ralf Dillmann, Partner at BearingPoint