The global supply chain is one of the greatest human endeavors, functioning millions of times every day. Moving a small electrical appliance, for example, from manufacturing in Asia to doorstep delivery in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Cairo, or Delaware is a feat of many steps, with many handlers and many modes of transport.
We are in a time where interconnected systems and reliance on third-party data are at an all-time high. This poses challenges to logistics entities that go far beyond internal system integrity or hacking, crossing into areas such as the potential for redirection of goods via cyber breach, cyberattacks commandeering autonomous technology, or business interruption that stems not only from attacks on organizations’ systems but on those of the interconnected supply chain partners — upstream or downstream.
The global supply chain is also one of the most interesting stories of evolution, with constant rewiring in the interest of customer demand, speed, efficiency, transparency, and margin. There have been seismic events, such as the invention of containerization, which have revolutionized the industry, and there are daily microevolutions underway in the…
