The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted shortcomings and risk of supply chain decisions made with the aim to reduce cost. Specifically, how the adoption of “just in time” by manufacturers has driven reduction of intermediate storage and “global sourcing” has driven supply from distant low-cost sources.
A new article on Project Supply Chain Resiliency, authored by Gary Fischer and Paul Massih, addresses this, as well as how the current upheaval in supply chains has raised several questions, such as how “resilient” are the supply chains for capital projects? Some sectors rely heavily on supply from one country, is that wise? What can and should project leaders do to minimize the impact of supply chain disruption on their projects or provide agility to handle unforeseen circumstances? Project Production Management (the application of Operations Science to the delivery of capital projects) provides the framework for effectively controlling supply chains.