Following our international webinar on « Food Supply Chains and Safety – impact of COVID-19 and aftermath », The LCL Conversation Series continues with the next edition.
Abstract
We all saw the disruptions to supply chains across economic sectors worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent mandated lockdowns; for the first time, downstream (distribution and stocking) as well as upstream networks were affected – a loss of capacity to distribute products through retailers was the new reality. Though people could order via online services (e-commerce), a full assortment of products was not available on those platforms either.
This crisis presented a challenge especially heavy to SMEs, which have fewer reserves to continue to take care of their suppliers in an operations-shutdown situation than large companies – but the supplier-relationship is a critical cog in the wheel toward maintaining business continuity.
It is thus key for organizations of all sizes to assess the Resilience of their Supply Chains now and continuously and make the necessary optimizations throughout their operations to protect against disruptions going forward.
- How did this crisis compare to past disruptions?
- What are the lessons learned for the next shock (because there will be one…)?
Featuring expert speakers from Luxembourg and the United States:
Jim Rice, Deputy Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Transportation and Logistics
Jim Rice has worked at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics for over 25 years, and currently serves as the Deputy Director of CTL and the Director of the Supply Chain Exchange. Prior to MIT Jim worked in industry for 14 years at P&G, General Electric and Schlumberger. Jim’s research has mostly been focused on risk management and resilience since 9-11.
Benny Mantin, Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, University of Luxembourg
Prof. Benny Mantin has been director and professor for three and a half years now, as well as a Research Affiliate to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (or MIT) as part of our collaboration in the MIT Global SCALE Network (which is “supply chain & logistics excellence”); Benny’s personal research program encapsulates topical, important, and challenging aspects of supply chain management, dynamic pricing and revenue management, as well as transportation economics.
Ravi Pathak, Master student, Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, University of Luxembourg
Ravi Pathak is a Logistics and Supply Chain graduate at University of Luxembourg. He has 7 years of work experience as IT Procurement technology consultant. He has worked with various clients for their Procurement technology solutions as ArcelorMittal and Rolls Royce. Other than his interests in supply chain analytics, he is an audiophile and would love to test and tear down features of every new audio device in the market.