THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
2022: Supply Chain Management & Logistics Landscape—Questions Versus Certainty The continuing pandemic and reemergence of new strains and variants has thrown much of the global Supply Chain mechanism and ecosystem into disruption and disarray. The search is now to revert, change and transform writes Tom Craig President LTD Management, Pennsylvania, USA, a leading authority and professional consultant on logistics and supply chain management and regular contributor to Global Supply Chain—Editor.
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he year 2021, like the preceding 2020, was another unprecedented year for global supply chains and logistics. A lesson derived from the ensuing situation was the unpredictability of predictions for supply chains, logistics, transportation, ports, retail, manufacturing, and distributors. Consequently, it created an impact. The result here is a list of ideas and uncertainties for 2022. They are some of talking points and takeaways that have taken life during all this and what they may mean as things to watch for.
Overview The business story of the pandemic
40 JANUARY 2022
has been its direct and indirect impact on the logistics and supply chain management. The result— logistics bottlenecks and chaos, port jams, ocean shipping rates, inventory shortages, lockdowns, shipper workarounds both reshore and onshore. There is a need for trade and supply chain synchronization. All of these are indicative of disruption and the potential for change, even transformation.
Status The pandemic validated that Supply Chain Management (SCM) is critical and strategic. This is now globally understood. It also made companies look at the end-to-end supply
chain, not just downstream with customer orders and stores. Implicit and explicit is integrating the end-to-end supply chain. This may mean a new SCM structure than using logistics as the organization breakdown. That said there is still the challenge for firms to see the size, complexity, and nonlinearity of supply chains. What will all of it mean going forward?
Normal This interrogative has two parts. One, when will logistics and supply chains achieve normalcy? After the upcoming Chinese New Year around mid February 2022? Perhaps in the second half of the Year?
