Joel Solomon

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open   Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…

The resiliency of the supply chain has been tested time and time again — strained by weather-related events like hurricanes, global crises such as COVID-19, disasters like the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, and security breaches from cyberattacks. Supply chain resilience will continue to be tested. In fact, a major supply chain crisis could be just days away as the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) could stage a strike at ports all along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States as soon as Oct. 1. Beyond the Buzz: What is Supply Chain Resilience? “Supply chain resilience refers to the ability of a supply chain to prepare for unexpected events, adapt to disruptions, and recover quickly to restore its normal service levels,” Inbound Logistics said. “It’s not merely about preventing disruptions but being able to turn challenges into opportunities for growth and improvement.” Supply Chain Dive said because of events like COVID-19, the Panama drought, and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, supply chain disruptions have become “part of the public’s consciousness and everyday nomenclature.” “The risk in our global economy is that supply chain disruptions are guaranteed to continue, but no forecast exists to tell us when or how…