Case Study – Supply chain strategies for resilience against global challenges.

In a rapidly shifting global landscape, supply chains face increasing pressure from geopolitical tensions, climate disruptions, labour shortages, and economic volatility. The COVID-19 pandemic, regional conflicts, and recent natural disasters were stark reminders that traditional supply chain models, built for efficiency rather than resilience, are vulnerable to these unforeseen circumstances. To thrive in this new era, businesses must adopt proactive strategies—with automation playing a central role.

Diversification & Redundancy

During the pandemic we saw in real time, business leaders adjust their thinking from “just-in-time” to “just-in-case” models. This included diversification of suppliers and holding more stock closer to end consumers. Many businesses found themselves not being able to get stock fast enough to meet the surge in online demand, and then quickly found themselves overstocked.

This created its own set of problems, from space constraints, holding of obsolete stock, and reduced supply chain efficiency. Balancing these considerations with the need to absorb unexpected supply shocks will remain a key supply chain challenge going forwards.

A strategy many businesses have used to help to navigate these complexities is the use of automation. In manual operations going higher, utilising double deep storage, or extending pick walk reduce efficiencies. Automated warehouses are more compact and have greater density than manual operations, leaving room for companies to store their safety stock holding. From inbound to outbound, automation can deliver productivity gains and cost savings that could offset the additional costs of redundancy measures.

Workforce Augmentation

The idea of Augmenting of workers took off with the introduction of voice picking, with wearable technology following quickly afterwards. These technologies promote hands-free, real-time access to information, streamlining workflows and taking paperwork out of the hands of workers. These also help with worker ergonomics and safety, allowing them to use two hands for every task.

Another example of augmentation would be the use of robotics to remove the lengthy pick walks. This type of automation complements the human workforce by taking over tedious, repetitive, or dangerous tasks, freeing people to focus on more value-added tasks. In labour-constrained environments, automation ensures continuity without overburdening teams.

Predictive Analysis and End-to-end visibility

Increasingly more powerful and adaptable software allows organizations to analyse vast datasets and identify risks before they disrupt operations, as well as adapt to the situation. For example; sophisticated demand forecasting could help identify demand spikes allowing operations to flex up in advance to cope with the increased throughput requirement.

Digital twins to simulate and optimize supply chain responses. With automation, companies can visualize how different design features affect throughput or performance, minimising risk and giving insights into operational performance without affecting the day-to-day operations.

Resilient supply chains are transparent, especially in warehousing. Automation systems, integrated with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) can provide operations leaders with accurate inventory, performance data, and a whole host of important information.

Conclusion

Supply chain resilience is no longer just a potential competitive advantage—it's a necessity. As global challenges become more frequent and unpredictable, companies must shift from reactive to preventative strategies. Automation lies at the heart of this transformation, offering the speed, precision, and scalability needed to build adaptive and robust supply chains.

The future belongs to businesses that treat resilience as a design principle, something that we at Priority Integrated Systems take very seriously.