The coronavirus crisis in China has had an unexpected impact on manufacturing. Manufacturers in China were shut down in a bid to contain the outbreak, and supply chains went into shock. UK manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover and JCB, who had come to rely on an uninterrupted flow of parts from China, were forced to scramble for continuity. JLR resorted to using suitcases to ship parts. JCB closed down production. What does this tell us about how supply chains will evolve in the future?
The Coronavirus crisis is a stark reminder that black swan events still have the capacity to bring chaos to the best thought-through systems. While companies seek to plug the holes caused by broken supply chains in 2020, how can supply chains avoid such unexpected, left-field events in future, and how advanced is the academic thinking behind it? I spoke to Professor Richard Wilding OBE, Professor…
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