Supply chain sustainability has become key to the fight against climate change. As the biggest source of carbon emissions for the majority of companies, supply chains generate as much as 80 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions.
There’s no question that we’ve entered the era of Industry 4.0, described by pwc as encompassing “end-to-end digitization and data integration of the value chain.” Industry 4.0 companies optimize production to the fullest extent by connecting physical, virtual, and human assets, and integrating all operations and internal activities.
Right now, manufacturers barely have time to catch their breath, never mind consider how the future may look. Manufacturers face a unique set of constraints that make the pandemic crisis particularly challenging: Factories have high sunk costs, a need for skilled labor, and complex supply chains. Even if is still possible to operate in the crisis, operations can be easily interrupted by key skilled workers being absent or supply chains being interrupted. Simply put, with that level of sunk costs coupled with a dependency on commodity pricing, operational losses can mount quickly.