There's little doubt that technology has a role to play in helping manufacturers identify supply chain risk, recognize when risk is on the rise, and mitigate the effects of that risk.
In fact, according to a new poll of Managing Automation readers, 60% of manufacturers said technology would play a pivotal or somewhat important role in their companies' efforts to mitigate supply chain risk.
Despite that expectation, however, there are few, if any, comprehensive, integrated tool suites that manufacturers can use to identify risks, recognize when supply chain risk is on the rise, and manage the ramifications. Instead, experts say, manufacturers can implement a wide variety of tools that focus on one aspect or another of supply chain risk management, including risk-based early-warning systems, supplier assessment, network simulation and optimization, inventory visibility, and supply execution flexibility.
"Supply chain risk management is a nascent market right now," says Noha Tohamy, an analyst at AMR Research. "Every vendor says their tool can be applied to problems related to supply chain risk, but right now there are very few comprehensive tools that, for example, can quantify risk as a cost factor and incorporate that into existing models."