Predictive Supply Chains: Shifting to Resilience

As we go through an era of global volatility, existing supply chain operations are being tested in ways they’ve never been tested before. To gain an advantage, leaders must capitalise on the latest technology trends and developments.

To gain insight into how modern leading supply chains are migrating from fragmented, reactive operations into fully integrated networks, Supply Chain Digital, in association with Amazon Business, recently hosted an exclusive webinar featuring top industry experts.

Our panel explored the foundational shifts reshaping global networks, highlighting how predictive planning, end-to-end visibility and digital ecosystems are becoming essential and not just a ‘nice-to-have’ for modern business continuity.

To learn more about the changes driving operations, watch Supply Chain Digital's webinar on the Future of Supply Chain Management, in association with Amazon Business, on demand now.​​​​​​​

Meet the panel

Among the people taking part in this debate is Bhavik Pathak, Director and Head of Supplier Quality, Americas Region at Alstom, who brings extensive expertise in public transit asset execution and fleet reliability.

Focusing on strategic transformation, tech integration, and sourcing agility, Ashley Hetrick, Principal Sourcing and Supply Chain Segment Leader at BDO USA, offers insight into what managing supply networks could look like in the years to come.

Vini Pathak, Sustainability Manager, Global Commercial Food at Mars, specialises in greenhouse gas reductions, Scope 3 reporting, and agricultural risk mitigation, giving a fresh perspective to the panel.

The shift from efficiency to responsiveness

One of the topics addressed at the beginning of the panel is how technological advancements have permanently altered strategic priorities. The way supply chains have been designed historically is to focus on lean manufacturing and complete cost optimisation. Today, this has moved to concentrate on systemic resilience.

“The most fundamental shift is supply chains are no longer being managed for efficiency,” says Ashley.

“The day of lean process improvement and Six Sigma really dominating the conversation has gone away. They're really being managed for risk and responsiveness.”

Ashley also pointed out that regionalisation and multi-regional diversification are actively replacing hyper-globalised dependencies to protect top-line revenue.

Climate Risk and Long-Term Sourcing

For the food and agricultural sectors, these disruptions are compounded by tangible climate variations. Vini made it clear that environmental factors like El Niño are no longer abstract scientific terms but part of regular conversations.

“Climate change is truly transforming the ways our supply chains are working in terms of what is being produced, where,” says Vini.

“We really need to transform and transition more towards building those long-term relationships with suppliers instead of having short-term contracts... [which] allows us to unlock the potential of co-creating programs which are mutually beneficial.”

Deep network transparency is essential

For many organisations, the primary focus is on their tier-one suppliers. This tunnel vision often seen in legacy models, which involves managing supply chains exclusively through tier-one relationships, is a common point of failure and a lack of deep network transparency, according to Bhavik.

"Focus is more on the tier-one supplier, but then what's going to happen [at] tier two, tier three?" Bhavik says. He explains that a modern operation must look past its direct vendors, utilising digital integrations to build a single source of truth that shifts organisations from reactive crisis management to predictive prevention.

The conversation moved on to implementation, with the panel agreeing that a successful digital ecosystem relies entirely on its foundational data and its cultural adoption. The interaction between humans and technology will likely be a key future topic, with the experts discussing how technology has liberated human talent to focus on strategy by taking over the mundane operational side of logistics. 

Driven by Amazon Business

Modern, predictive supply chains require smart buying infrastructures to eliminate administrative bottlenecks. Amazon Business reshapes corporate purchasing by consolidating thousands of commercial suppliers into a single, structured destination. 

By using real-time spend tracking dashboards, robust approval workflows, and payment options that are flexible, procurement leaders have the network control and cash flow agility to counter macro-level volatility.

Discover the trends shaping leading operations. Watch Supply Chain Digital's webinar on the Future of Supply Chain Management, in association with Amazon Business, on demand now.