This Week in Supply Chain Now: May 18th – 22nd

Supply Chain Now is the voice of the supply chain industry, and our hosts are experts in the field. Podcast listeners tune in to hear the words of wisdom from host Marty Parker, whose practical advice is taken everywhere from the classroom to the C-suite. An Educated Voice in Supply Chain Parker certainly has the supply chain chops to back up his advice. He has 30 years of experience in the supply chain C-suite (COO, CMO, CSO), is the founder and CEO of Adæpt Advising, and is an award-winning senior lecturer in supply chain and operations management at the University of Georgia. He also founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, is the academic director of the university’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple advisory boards, including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group, and Carlton Creative Co. Mentoring on Campus and in the C-suite Parker’s mentoring carries supply chain stakeholders from their student days to the C-suite. At UGA, he helps his students network and land internships and post-graduation jobs. Through Adæpt Advising, he works with C-suite executives to improve their skills, become better leaders, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. He…

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. Cybersecurity is Paramount in Digital Supply Chain A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report published in October 2023 said that “bad actors are using more sophisticated tools and techniques to exploit vulnerabilities in digital networks, and weak points can be difficult to detect. Companies with established cybersecurity capabilities are being compromised through less sophisticated third parties that are connected to their network.” Today’s Supply Chain Remains Vulnerable to Cyberattacks According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of organizations targeted by supply chain cyberattacks skyrocketed by 2,600% between 2018 and 2023. Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report said there was a 68% year-over-year leap in the amount of “supply chain interconnection” involved in cyber breaches. Among high-profile cyberattacks affecting the supply chain: In December 2020, Forward…