Jerai Robins

A British logistician is credited with coining the term “supply chain management” in the early 1980s, but it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that the world became familiar with such aspects of supply chain operations as logistics, inventory and supplier management, and procurement. The influence of supply chain leaders also has grown with the understanding of the importance of the supply chain in the global economy

In July, what is being called the “largest IT outage in history” grounded air cargo and travel and caused “substantial disruptions” to the networks of such supply chain giants as FedEx and UPS. While cybersecurity company CrowdStrike blamed the worldwide outage on a “software update” and not a cyberattack, the event illustrates the importance of taking measures to safeguard the supply chain systems we all rely on for the movement of goods and people.