One sponsored survey’s data may shed parochial light on trends in the management and orchestration of supply chain disruptions

In a sponsored survey conducted in December 2023 of 1,800 “supply chain leaders” across North America (USA and Canada), Europe (UK, France, and Germany), and the Japan, Taiwan, India, and Australia on industry trends and disruptions, some key findings from the data were announced.

Firstly, 17% of all respondents indicated their organizations can “respond to disruptions within 24 hours” — with 67% of these indicating they were are not “very satisfied” with their response time. 

Secondly, the average crisis response time for handling disruptions was five days, varying across industries. In the oil and gas sector, for example, 28% of respondents indicated they could mount a response within a day, compared to 15% of respondents from the life sciences and 14% from the  aerospace sector.

Thirdly, although respondents in all regions were dissatisfied with their organizations’ ability to withstand and respond to supply chain shocks, they remained optimistic about technology’s potential to turn the tide: 44% indicated their belief that “better orchestration tools would have a modest impact (and 53% “a significant impact”) on their supply chains’ performance. 

Other key findings

Other key findings

    • 42% of consumer product respondents rated their supply chain orchestration as “mature”, the highest among all verticals
    • 25% of respondents cited plans to move to new technologies in the next year to improve resilience
    • 33% wanted supply chain orchestration platforms that offer AI/generative AI capabilities
    • 63% viewed their supply chain as some form of competitive advantage over the next 12 months, but for the longer term (one to three years) this view dropped to 48% of respondents
    • 37% indicated that the biggest roadblock to adopting a supply chain orchestration application was “not finding the right vendor solution”

According to Phillip Teschemacher, President (Asia Pacific), Kinaxis, the firm that commissioned the survey: “In this landscape, there lies a significant opportunity for improvement. Companies can work on improving visibility, increasing collaboration and advancing towards orchestration to enable Chief Supply Chain Officers to automate decision-making across the entire enterprise.”