Earlier this year, the Senate began deliberating the Promoting Resilient Supply Chains Act, a bill to establish a federal program to map, monitor, and model U.S. supply chains and look for potential gaps in manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and distribution. 

As of this writing, the bill is with the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and is several steps away from becoming law. But the implications are clear: In the wake of pandemic-related shakeups around the globe, there is a strong focus on boosting the resilience of supply chains everywhere. And professionals in the space must be ready to deliver these results.

We needn’t wait for a government mandate to do so, however. The tools and technologies to create resilient, frictionless supply chains are growing increasingly obtainable, and those who don’t take advantage risk being left behind. Given the challenges and disruptions of today, it’s more important than ever to exploit every opportunity to bolster the resilience of our supply chains.

At a time when many moving variables are impacting supply chains on a daily basis, resilient supply chains can help businesses prepare for and quickly recover from disruptions, such as natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, pandemics, cyberattacks and logistical failures. Such disruptions often lead to increased costs related to expedited shipping, higher inventory carrying expense, and lost sales. In addition, a strong supply chain reduces the risks associated with over-reliance on specific suppliers, regions or transportation modes, ensuring that businesses aren’t overly exposed to single points of failure.

A resilient supply chain can further provide a competitive edge by ensuring that businesses can consistently meet customer demands, even in the face of disruptions. This reliability builds trust and loyalty among customers, partners, and suppliers. Agile supply chains can quickly adapt to market changes and capitalize on new opportunities.

Finally, though major new federal legislation may be lurking, many industries are already subject to regulations that require transparency, sustainability and ethical sourcing in their supply chains. A resilient supply chain that incorporates compliance measures aids in transparency, helping businesses to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage. Building resiliency is possible — and with newly available digital tools, it can be easier than ever before. 

One technology that can have a major impact is artificial intelligence. Although AI has to this point become something of a buzzword — one that can mean everything and nothing, depending on the context — the thoughtful and strategic application of such technology in the B2B space can produce some powerful results.

For example, AI in a supply chain management system can be deployed to collect and interpret data from a wide variety of work streams. One AI module may be solely responsible for tracking the location of a returnable container. Another may be following a truck while it’s on the road. Yet another may identify the last known location of multiple assets throughout the supply chain.

Because each of these AI modules can process vast amounts of data very quickly, they can subsequently deliver forecasted trends, proactive answers to common questions, and direct operations, with the goal of simplifying decision-making for humans. 

The results can be powerful. Managers can forecast production needs based on how many assets they have within their facility, or are on the way to it. Easy-to-understand visual reports can provide users the ability to track operations and anticipate potential problems before they happen. AI tool sets can gather information from across users’ supply chains, helping to address common warehouse logistics challenges with shipping lane assignments and stop-ships, and allowing for real-time adjustments based on customer-configurable rules and patterns. 

In the end, AI for supply chains is about enabling better and more informed decisions — but importantly, none of it is possible without data accuracy. Accurate data forms the foundation of AI applications’ ability to create and identify meaningful insights. Without it, insights produced may simply be inaccurate, leading to suboptimal human decisions and poor business outcomes.

Looking forward, supply chain professionals can deploy new tools to get ahead of unforeseen challenges, be they new regulatory initiatives or unexpected global incidents. It’s worth continuous investigation and investment as we move into the future.

Martin Conner is executive vice president, customer success at Surgere.