Supply Chain Risk Alert

Manufacturers are frequently unable to identify — or predict — disruptions to their supply chains caused by emergencies, weather or even natural disasters. Yet these disruptions can greatly affect freight and manpower costs, on-time delivery and customer satisfaction. Manufacturers are looking for a tool that not only can alert them to supply chain disruptions but predict them, analyze the potential impact and risks, automatically make plans to mitigate risks, and quickly communicate warning and options directly to supply chain managers.

Project Lead

Dow
ITAMCO
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Rochester Institute of Technology
Microsoft

Outcome

This team will develop a system that 1) scours the landscape for events that could disrupt supply chains, 2) assesses the risks, and 3) suggests solutions. Using secure blockchain technology, the system will then communicate all three things in one notification to a supply chain manager — right to his or her smartphone. The system will gather information from news sources, government agencies and social media to identify the disruptions, and use advanced analytics and machine learning to predict and mitigate the risks. The team will develop a cloud-based framework that connects supply chain management tools that exist today but are not currently connected. The working solution will be validated and benchmarked at Dow.