before your phone can be a source of endless tiktok videos you must first acquire it through a global supply chain but when these supply chains are disrupted whether due to a global pandemic unexpected winter storms or a massive cargo ship blocking a busy trade canal it can affect everything from the food you eat to the toilet paper on the shelves of local grocery stores dr eleftherios lefteris iakovou the harvey hubbell professor of industrial distribution at texas a&m university and director of manufacturing and logistics innovation initiatives for the texas a&m engineering experiment station is utilizing his years of expertise in supply chain research to bolster current supply chains and develop new resilient supply chain systems he recently published an extensive look into supply chains and how to build a more resilient system in the united states so what exactly is a supply chain at its core it is the network or process involved in the creation and sale of a product to consumers and industrial customers iakovou also the co-director of the global value chains program at the bush school and director of supply chain management for the secureamerica institute of the texas a&m university system explained that it is far more intricate than just that however a supply chain is an extended enterprise over which we do five things: we plan we buy we make we move we sell he said over this extended enterprise we manage four flows we manage flows of products flows of processes flows of information and financial flows and unless we do this synergistically we cannot add value to the supply chain itself defining disruptions when one part of this delicately balanced network fails and disrupts the process the rest of the supply chain consumers companies and the nation included are directly affected this can be a disruption in supply or production such as when a manufacturing plant in japan is out of commission due to a tsunami; a disruption in demand and supply as seen with the increased need and lower supply of power during the winter storm in texas; or a disruption in transportation due to the suez canal being blocked by one of the largest container ships in the world the ever given vessel he explained that these global supply chains are very brittle and highly susceptible to disruptions particularly surrounding uncertain or unplanned events for example the covid-19 pandemic demonstrated a lack of preparedness by nations and companies alike for black swan (low probability-high impact) events it's one thing to prepare an organization based on chronically occurring disruptions and it's another thing to think ‘how can i create a supply chain that is flexible enough agile enough so when something really bad happens it has the posture to bounce back as quickly as possible iakovou said the future of resilience developing a resilient supply chain starts with understanding that one size does not fit all each has its own set of complications and strengths in the modern global economy cost reduction has almost become synonymous with outsourcing and offshoring the manufacturing of components for products however it is important for companies to still have home-based manufacturing plants that operate even at a lower production rate in case there is an issue with the offshored supply iakovou said covid-19 demonstrated the sole supplier model is out of business companies are pushing for low cost low cost itself is not sustainable he said the federal government on the other side needs resilience and security for supply chains critical to the nation (eg pharmaceuticals semiconductor chips large capacity batteries rare earth minerals) but resilience costs money as its based on redundancies (diversified sourcing additional inventories) iakovou suggests the government has a key role to play by transitioning companies away from a shareholder model and into a stakeholder model as suggested in 2019 by the business roundtable private and government sectors would have to collaborate and consider not only shareholder value but also workers and associated partners society national competitiveness and security and the environment that's a monumental shift that if it happens correctly would allow for new optimal trade-offs between cost efficiencies resilience and sustainability he said iakovou pointed out that in the past governmental agencies were critical in de-risking innovations related to the internet touch screens and vaccines he believes the government should work with the movers and shakers in society and the private sector to continue to advance similar innovations in supply chains critical to the nation and to further support the nations well-being competitiveness security and global leadership there is a talk in my humble opinion deservedly so about the elevated role of the government as a further catalytic entity to spur more innovation in the way we design these global supply chains so that they display cost-competitive resilience in order to address the new realities he said and that's where the stakeholder model would be very handy so i absolutely believe that this is the way to move forward