Scenario-Driven Supply Chain Charaterization Using a Multi-Dimensional Approach

Extreme disruptive events, such as the volcano eruption in Iceland, the Japanese tsunami, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as constant changes in customers’ needs and expectations, have forced supply chains to continuously adapt to new environments. Consequently, it is paramount to understand the supply chain characteristics for possible future scenarios, in order to know how to respond to threats and take advantage of the opportunities that the next years will bring. This chapter focuses on describing the characteristics of the supply chain in each of the six macro-scenarios presented in Sardesai et al. (2020b), as final stage of the scenario building methodology. Supply chains for each scenario are characterized in eight dimensions: Products and Services, Supply Chain Paradigm, Sourcing and Distribution, Technology Level, Supply Chain Configuration, Manufacturing Systems, Sales Channel, and Sustainability.

Industry 4.0 From the Supply Chain Perspective

Industry 4.0 proposals have an important impact not only in companies but also in the complete supply chain. The effect in the supply chain is different depending on each Industry 4.0 proposal and each supply chain configuration. This chapter deals with Industry 4.0 from the supply chain perspective. Four levels of scope on the supply chain and a classification scheme based on three blocks (technologies, features and extensions) have been defined. Finally, the case study in the food sector gives a real vision of some previously introduced concepts about Industry 4.0 from the supply chain perspective.

CHANGING CUSTOMER PREFERENCES IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY AND THEIR IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAIN CONFIGURATION

The issues related to changing customer preferences in the fashion industry have been considered. Changing consumer preferences, according to the author, can have an impact on the configuration of supply chains in the fashion industry. Among such new requirements of consumers in the fashion industry, the author have highlighted: consumer requests for the fastest possible receipt of products, production of products for specific individual requests of buyers, requests for transparency of supply chains and some others. In such situation, owners of clothing and footwear brands can cope with the new challenges of the company by re-shoring production with the organization of digital, robotic production factories.