Business View Magazine - Sept 2023

221 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 9 ASSOCIAT ION FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Though probably taken for granted by most people, supply chains are vitally important to everyone. They’re what get us everything that makes modern life possible, from grocery stores to gas stations to retail outlets. An important nonprofit playing a major role in the supply chain process is the Association for Supply Chain Management. The ASCM is the global leader in supply chain organizational transformation, innovation, and leadership. As the largest non-profit association for supply chains, the ASCM serves as an unbiased partner, connecting companies around the world to the newest thought leadership on all aspects of supply chains. We recently spoke with the ASCM’s Chief Executive Officer, Abe Eshkenazi. He told us more about the everyday importance of supply chains and his organization’s role in their vital work. “I think the supply chain has become ubiquitous for almost everybody in the world today,” says Eshkenazi. “Prior to the pandemic, I don’t know that there was a whole lot of understanding from the consumers or patients alike in terms of even the concept of supply chains. Obviously, the pandemic—with the resulting stock-outs and challenges we’ve had with products and services, from PPE’s (personal protective equipment) to paper—has really highlighted the criticality of having an efficient and effective supply chain for consumers.” He explains that the foundations of a global supply chain include the sourcing of raw materials; the actual transformation of these raw materials into finished products; the delivery of course; and all aspects of the logistics involved: everything that’s encountered in providing a product from a raw material to assembly to a retail or an outlet for sale. “I don’t know that people truly understand it,” Eshkenazi says. “Unfortunately, e-commerce has trained a lot of our consumers in terms of their understanding of supply chains. They ordered it (over the Internet), and either it did or didn’t arrive. That’s the consumer’s understanding of supply chains.” He also cites the indispensable and ever- present conveyors and conveyor belts. Everything we use or otherwise consume these days was at one point on a conveyor belt. Products may move untold thousands of miles before their buyers ever see them. Yet as far as consumers understand, Eshkenazi notes, products are either on store shelves or they’re not. Since COVID, he adds, the global nature of these supply chains has presented real challenges for Tier II and Tier III vendors, usually small to medium-sized businesses that often support larger ones. Tariffs and other disruptions can also have huge impacts on supply chains. “The pandemic really did expose a lot of the challenges within a global supply chain,” he adds. “I think the expectations have not decreased but have increased, because of e-commerce.” Everything from cars to major appliances may