"Creating a more resilient future together"

The global component shortage and supply chain disruptions over the past two years have popularized a word from the world of logistics: resilience. We sat down with B&R fulfillment expert Gerald Haas to learn more about supply chain resilience and what steps B&R is taking to improve it.

Gerald Haas: When we say resilience, what we're basically talking about is the ability to remain stable in the face of external changes. And, from COVID-19 to the component crisis, we've seen plenty of changes over the past two years. As a company, being more resilient means creating a more stable business environment so that events like these have less of an impact.

Haas: Our supply of raw components has improved considerably. Compared to the height of the crisis, the number of critical components has been reduced by over 90%.

Haas: One step is to expand our multi-sourcing strategy in order to shore up our supply of critical components. We've also redesigned numerous products to help make this possible. And of course we've worked closely with our suppliers to find solutions. In this regard, our combined purchasing power together with our parent company ABB has been very helpful.

Another important step has been optimizing our planning systems. This gives us more flexible control over our production processes and helps us offer our customers faster and more reliable information and shorter lead times.

Haas: What I want to see is the greatest possible stability across our entire supply chain – from our suppliers, to our production facilities in Austria, to machine builders and plant operators around the world. We've already made significant progress, and I am confident that the structures and processes we are establishing with our suppliers will serve us well in future crises.

Haas: Yes, one thing that's been nice to see these past few years is how well all of our teams and departments have worked together. However passionate the discussions, the focus has always been on "How do we best support our customers in this situation?" So I'd like to say thank you – to all of my colleagues and also to our customers – for all the personal dedication and close collaboration as we create a more resilient future together.