The pandemic, Black Friday, and supply chains: what does resilience mean after all?

INESC TEC Science Bits – Episode 36

Link to the episode (Portuguese only)

Guest-speakers: Ricardo Zimmermann and Pedro Senna, INESC TEC researchers

Keywords: logistics, supply chains, resilience, sustainability, intralogistics

An episode in the aftermath of another Black Friday, dedicated to a most relevant topic: supply chains.

We talked to Ricardo Zimmermann and Pedro Senna, INESC TEC researchers, and recalled the pandemic period – a time when various environmental, social, and economic changes occurred, leading to the transformation of supply chains. Who doesn’t remember, for example, the global shortage of semiconductors? A shortage that is still not completely over, thus influencing various sectors, e.g., the automotive industry.

The ReSChape project emerges in this context: it’s a European endeavour that analyses the impact of said changes, towards proposing strategies and management models for greater supply chains’ sustainability and resilience. The project also aims to ensure that people become the focus of business.

What are these changes all about? Which factors have influenced supply chains? What are sustainable and resilient supply chains? What does resilience mean? That’s what we’re going to find out during this episode.