Harnessing AI to Deliver Resilient Supply Chains

Special delivery c/o AI.

STARTER STATS

• Investing 10-15% in resilience measures (like shared backup contracts or local production) can significantly reduce a corporation's disruption risk

• Disruption costs were reduced by 30% by diversifying suppliers and coordinating inventories

---

A new AI framework developed by engineering researchers at UBC Okanagan allows companies to anticipate and respond rapidly to supply chain shocks. Whether they are dealing with tariff hikes, supplier shutdowns, or shipping delays, the algorithms enable more strategic decision-making.

The team combined operations research modelling, machine learning, and complex simulations to test real-world supply chain disruption scenarios. The approach helps evaluate various strategies, including multi-sourcing, consignment inventory, and long-term contracts.

It's a proactive approach that builds resilience in comparison to reactive “fire-fighting” approaches.

The implications reach beyond individual businesses. The model can be used to identify vulnerable nodes in supply chains (e.g., critical suppliers, transport bottlenecks, or geopolitically risky links) and to guide channel interventions where they matter most.

Amid global uncertainty, this work suggests that strategic resilience investment isn’t a luxury — it can simultaneously be a competitive advantage and systemic safeguard.

“Our model helps identify vulnerable components, suppliers or transport links, and guides decision-makers toward interventions that prevent system-wide disruptions.”

— Dr. Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani

Read More →