In this episode from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork magazine, Executive Editor Theresa Houck details the steps some manufacturers are taking to successfully build resilience and agility into their supply chain so they can recover from a shortage of people, products or capacity. Our hope is that some of these can help you. You’ll learn the common thread in all of them is the use of digital solutions, data analytics and IT/OT convergence.

Agility allows you to make faster changes, and will help verify the right cost, service and quality given external market factors. Resilience will mitigate the impact of disruption where there are potential points of failure.

It’s useful to understand how and why the supply chain disruptions happen so you can evaluate your processes and technologies to minimize the impact. Theresa reviews the domino effect that started when COVID-19 hit in 2020, then examines ongoing factors that continue to resonate — including the China lockdown due to a COVID resurgence, labor shortages, a recent earthquake in Japan, the truck driver shortage, and particularly, the Russia/Ukraine war.

She examines catastrophic effects on the food and beverage industry, including the price and availability of bread, meat and eggs, and how food security is threatened in many parts of the world. Also learn about the semiconductor chip & other electronics and automobile industries, with reduced production in China, Europe and the United States that delay production and increase supplier and OEM costs.

Learn the real reasons behind The Great Resignation cited by MIT data and other research. And see how some manufacturers are successfully using cross-training, upskilling, labor-supporting technology like robotics or AGVs, and other strategies to streamline work and improve productivity and worker satisfaction.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

To learn more about how to build resiliency into your supply chain, download our newly released 2022 Supply Chain Reliability eBook.

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Access more resources from today’s episode:

• 2022 Supply Chain Reliability eBook, from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork.