BY MARK B. SOLOMON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR – NEWS
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A
thoughtleaders
LAST YEAR WAS A BUSY ONE FOR SUPPLY CHAIN
resiliency. That’s unfortunate, because that meant a string
of major disasters forced too many supply chains into costly reactive mode. Worldwide, total economic losses in 2017
due to natural and man-made disasters soared 63 percent
from the prior year to $306 billion, according to reinsurance firm Swiss Re. The U.S. was the hardest-hit region,
posting $93 billion in losses mostly from a trio of devastating hurricanes during the late summer and fall.
For the supply chain, disasters are a fact of life, and will
become a more expensive fact should incidents increase in
frequency and severity, as many experts expect. However,
as Aaron Parrott, specialist leader in Deloitte Consulting’s
supply chain and manufacturing operations practice,
explains in a recent conversation with Mark B. Solomon,
DC VELOCITY’s executive editor–news, there are ways to
mitigate the consequences, though not eliminate them.
QThere were several high-profile disasters during 2017. Did last year’s events move the needle in terms of
getting businesses to be proactive about hardening their
supply chains? Or are businesses still in a reactive mode and
view this as a cost of doing business?
A While 2017 was certainly a notable year for high-profile disasters, we’re not seeing business leaders write big
checks to overhaul their supply chains. For some compa-
nies in highly impacted regions, these disasters may have
caused sudden ruptures in their supply chains and revealed
34 DC VELOCITY MARCH 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
INTERVIEW WITH AARON PARROTT
Resiliency is on the lips of a lot of supply chain practitioners. After a traumatic 2017,
it needs to be, says Deloitte’s Aaron Parrott.
Be resilient, or be gone!
