Resilinc has published data collected from its EventWatchAI monitoring database which reveals that supply chain disruptions were up 88 percent in 2021 year-over-year, with 90 percent of disruptive events being human-caused.
Factory fires, mergers & acquisitions, business sales, factory disruptions, leadership transitions, and supply shortages ranked as the top six supply chain disruptions in 2021.
2021 saw the most factory fires ever recorded in a single year. Resilinc sent out 1,946 factory fire alerts, an increase of 129 percent year-over-year. The uptick is due mostly to gaps in regulatory and process execution as well as a shortage of skilled labor in warehouses says the company.
The data also reveals that disruptions due to supply shortages increased 452 percent year-over-year, this is the largest increase across all the event types Resilinc monitors for. Resilinc sent out 491 alerts regarding supply shortages (short supply of semiconductor chips, plastics, paper, and raw materials are all examples). This type of disruption ranked 6th in terms of the most reported events (behind ‘leadership transition’). Supply Shortages are driving consolidations, mergers, and business sales as companies look to give a quick cash boost to the core business or optimize the supply chain to best serve the customer base.
While ‘human health disruptions’ - which include COVID-19 related lockdowns and restrictions - fell 68 percent year-over-year, Resilinc has continued to designate the pandemic event as ‘severe’.
Additional data shows:
- Labor disruption events increased 156 percent year-over-year
- Extreme weather events increased 130 percent year-over-year
- Cyber attack events increased 143 percent year-over-year.
In total in 2021, Resilinc sent out 11,642 alerts about potential supply chain disruptions to its customers an 88 percent increase over 2020. Of these potential disruptions 7,025, or 60 percent, were impactful enough to trigger the creation of a WarRoom - virtual platforms in the Resilinc dashboard where customers and their suppliers communicate and collaborate to assess and resolve disruptions. In 2021, WarRoom creation was up 105 percent year-over-year due mostly to pandemic, labor, and supply shortage disruptions pushing supply chain teams to develop contingency plans, including finding alternate suppliers.
Additional data revealed in the report includes the number of disruptions by region: North America experienced the most supply chain disruptions (5,417), followed by Europe (2,838), and Asia (2,128).