The ITF has just published the findings of the Roundtable on “Balancing Efficiency and Resilience in Multimodal Supply Chains” in the Chair’s Summary and Conclusions. In this report Prof. Alan McKinnon examines how efficiency and resilience can be balanced in the management of multi-modal supply chains. It investigates the trade-off between supply chain resilience and efficiency, the approaches to sustainability in supply chain management, innovation and technological development, collaboration and alliances and risk mitigation.
Four discussion papers were prepared and used as inputs for the discussions at the Roundtable:
Efficiency and Sustainability in Multimodal Supply Chains
This paper describes approaches in intermodal supply chain management that aim to balance efficiency with sustainability requirements set by firms’ corporate social responsibility commitments and society more generally. It explores how accreditation systems can help support green logistics efforts and outlines the competitive advantages and disadvantages of adopting these approaches.
The Mitigation of Risk in Resilient Supply Chains
This paper examines the sources of supply chain risk and suggests ways in which higher levels of resilience can be achieved. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the risk of supply chain disruption and the need for resilience across the supply/demand network has become imperative. The paper discusses the focus on agility and flexibility required to achieve higher resilience, which in turn will require new ways of working across organisational boundaries.
Innovation and Technology in Multimodal Supply Chains
This paper investigates innovations in multimodal supply chains. It covers innovations in technology and IT, physical hardware and how supply chains are organised. It outlines direct and indirect impacts of these innovations, showing the ramifications for multimodality, the broader logistics system and sustainability challenges.
Collaboration in Supply Chain Management: A Resilience Perspective
This paper investigates how collaboration between stakeholders can help make supply chains more resilient. It explores innovative ways to operate supply chains and reinforce their resilience, for instance through crowd shipping or gainsharing. The paper also includes a case study on how multi-stakeholder initiatives and public-private partnership can help foster collaboration in supply chains for increased efficiency.
It was a pleasure to work on organising this Roundtable.