Joe Donnell

Special guest post written by Chris Cunnane with InterSystems Supply chain orchestration is the coordinated management of end-to-end supply chain activities, across planning, sourcing, production, logistics, and delivery, using technology, data, and processes to ensure that every moving part works together seamlessly. It enables organizations to attain an agile and resilient supply chain model through the use of decision intelligence. This is achieved through the See > Understand > Optimize > Act framework, which gives organizations the confidence to plan and respond to disruptions with assurance in their supply chain stability. See: gather raw data and information from your environment or a situation. Understand: analyze the information you’ve seen to build a comprehensive understanding of the context, your knowledge, and potential complexities. Optimize: develop the best possible solution or course of action to address the situation. Act: implement your chosen solution, putting your knowledge into practice. From a practical standpoint, this framework powers your supply chain application ecosystem with end-to-end visibility, insights, and better decisions. It helps organizations reach their supply chain goals by enabling them to align processes, stakeholders, and technology toward desired outcomes. The end result is reduced costs, improved operating margins, and optimized sustainability decisions, among others.…

An estimated 12% of global trade worth more than $1 trillion traverses the Red Sea each year. When Houthi rebels started attacking commercial vessels in November 2023, ocean carriers began rerouting container ships around Africa’s Cape of Good Horn rather than through the Suez Canal on voyages from Asia to Europe. That greatly increased travel time and costs. As of March of this year, shipping through the Red Sea was still down 70% from before the attacks began, according to The Economist, with many ocean carriers still avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Peninsula. Maritime Industry Caught in the Crosshairs Houthi rebels launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The Houthis attacked more than 100 cargo ships between November 2023 and January 2025. The attacks, with missiles and drones, sunk two vessels and killed four sailors. In late October 2024, a headline in gCaptain read, “Red Sea Is Now So Dangerous Even NATO Warships Are Avoiding It.” “The United States Navy continues to send warships through the Red Sea, but its mission to protect merchant ships – Operation Prosperity…