Unlocking the opportunity in supply chain challenges

“Challenges are opportunities in disguise.”

Venkatesh Srinivasan is clear that the hand you are dealt with is what you make of it.

And in the supply chain, on the back of a myriad of recent challenges the industry has been forced to deal with, many would agree that was sound advice.

Navigating supply chain challenges

Indeed, the likes of COVID-19, geopolitical issues and trade wars as well as inflation concerns are just some of the many hurdles the supply chain industry has had to mitigate. That isn’t to mention the rise of AI and sustainability as increasingly prominent items on the leadership agenda. 

Witnessing these disruptions first-hand is Srinivasan who, as a supply chain and operations executive with 20 years of experience in growth-oriented technology companies, is used to dealing with change. He possesses a diverse experience that covers automotive, consumer hardware, semiconductors, and climate tech. Over the years, Srinivasan has demonstrated success in building supplier partnerships and driving profitability and has rich experience in quality, sourcing, and working with suppliers in Asia and Europe for startups and large corporations. 

Srinivasan is keen to stress that what the supply chain is facing is a byproduct of the complexity of the global environment. “It’s a reflection of the world we live in,” Srinivasan tells us in our recent podcast. “It’s a function of our times and there is no denying that the past 20 to 25 years have been exceptionally turbulent. This decade alone has brought tariff pressures, preceded by COVID-19, which disrupted not only supply chains but also markets and demand. Now, with the rise of AI, we’re seeing renewed constraints on critical electronic components – echoing the shortages experienced during the pandemic.”

Reflecting further, Srinivasan sees similarities with the financial crash of 2008 which triggered a recession and forced many businesses to close. “Although the recession began in 2007, its second-order effects lingered well into 2014,” he tells us. “Even before that, we saw the dot-com crash and earlier economic shocks. There is no getting away from the fact the past 20 years have certainly seemed more unpredictable. 

“It’s easy to get consumed by geopolitics, macroeconomics, and monetary policy. But from a practitioner’s perspective, the priority is staying anchored to the company’s core mission. That means serving customers first, building products they value, and designing a supply chain that delivers those products at the right cost, quality, and speed. On top of that, you have to be prepared for it. That means figuring out what the edge cases are in your supply chain, anticipating disruptions, and having a plan of action well in advance. If you do a combination of those things, you will be in a very good position.”

One of the best ways to meet challenges head-on is to learn lessons from the past. If COVID-19 and tariffs proved anything it was the importance of diversifying supply chains and introducing greater regionalisation and nearshoring to be closer to end customers and reduce complexity.

“Companies that respond well to disruption often find new doors opening as a result,” Srinivasan explains. “That said, the past 18 months we have gone through the tariff challenges which are set to persist. Companies have got to get used to having a localised supply chain in their region of operations. For example, if you serve customers across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, your supply chain should be as close as possible to those end consumers. It is also very important to invest in new capacity within those geographies. It’s not always easy, but finding suppliers and sometimes even insourcing is essential to helping deal with external shocks.”

Digital journey

With training in industrial engineering, Srinivasan was well placed to step into a career within the supply chain. Srinivasan believes there were several key aspects that appealed to him and encouraged him to forge a career within the industry. “Working in the supply chain is naturally a very outward looking role and is connected to the real economy,” he explains. “On the inside of the company, you get to collaborate with a large number of teams, whether it is design engineering, factory operations, sales and planning, legal. It’s a good mix of technical commercial aspects of the business, and the supply chain is also quite central to advancing the goals of the company. A combination of all of that was very exciting and of course, there is certainly never a dull moment in this function.”

And if the external geopolitical noise was not enough, there has also been disruption of another kind in recent years in the acceleration of digital tools such as AI and data analytics. Regardless of the industry, AI is having a major influence on the way operations are conducted. Today, Srinivasan is also a trusted advisor who builds consensus and drives decision-making with executives and board members. As part of that role, Srinivasan has had a front row seat to transformation within the supply chain due to his work with Truco and Autumn Labs.

“At its core, AI automates workflows and streamlines supply chain and purchasing operations – and that momentum is building fast,” he says. “Many companies now train models on an organisation’s own data and interpret it in real-time, surfacing actionable insights through dashboards that help teams prioritise and execute their day more effectively. I recently spoke with the founder of Truco, who are excelling in this space, about how they are using AI to seamlessly automate workflows.

“Beyond that, where AI meets manufacturing, the impact is truly game-changing. Another example I have is that a startup I advise called Autumn Labs offers a real-world example. Their platform connects directly to factory machines, processing live production data to detect latent issues before they become costly problems. The result is optimised operations across yield, throughput, production costs, and statistical process control. They’ve already connected more than 100 stations and analysed data from over a million units – that is mind boggling to think about. The bottom line is that we are well and truly in the AI era, and it is going to have a long-term impact.”

Managing supply chain talent

And such is AI’s continued influence in supply chain and procurement that Srinivasan believes that the technology isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ any longer. Its recent explosion has meant the necessity of embracing AI solutions and leveraging new technologies such as agentic AI into operations to drive better decision-making and efficiency is a non-negotiable.

“I look at AI as an enormous productivity tool, which allows us to make better decisions and make them faster,” he says. “In absence of embracing AI, it is going to translate into those particular companies not having cost, speed and quality advantages that their competitors using AI would have. I think it’s quite simple as thinking back to the adoption of PCs back in the early nineties and Excel sheets. It was clearly inevitable that you have to choose those technologies and the same is true now otherwise you risk obsoleting yourself. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much of a choice here.”

With AI firmly in the back of minds, tomorrow’s supply chain leaders need to think differently. As a result, the workforce of the future must develop a skill set that not only thrives and overcomes today’s challenges but also equip themselves with an agile approach that enables them to tackle those hurdles set to come down the track.

“Firstly, you have to be curious about the work you’re doing and the world in which you live,” stresses Srinivasan. “You have to leverage data because it is going to be omnipresent, but it’s also about ensuring that you make sense of that data. It’s exceptionally important to build relationships even more so today than ever before. You need strong human relationships and a good network, and have to be used to travelling, being on site with suppliers and seeing where the real work is happening. You have to visit customers, get their insights and learn from them in real-time. A combination of using data to gain insights and building human relationships is going to be even more important than it already is.”

Bright future

Naturally, due to the exponential transformation within the supply chain, there are fears from some quarters that AI will replace human jobs as companies seek greater efficiency and cost savings. However, Srinivasan believes that it is a reframing of the role rather than replacement as graduates entering the workforce will possess a skill set better suited to succeed in the modern workplace.

“A new person coming out of college and joining the workforce previously would have been at a disadvantage if they did not have computer programming skills,” he says. “But going forward, you really don’t need those skills anymore. Many of your tasks can be automated and AI has taken up basic level coding already. Of course, you need to be technically literate, but you don’t need to be an expert. What that does is it opens up the dimension where you can go deeper into the things that you are good at.

“For example, a chemical engineer doesn’t necessarily need to know much about coding, so let them be exceptional at the chemical engineering part. You can do well by just being comfortable in your pure sciences background or whatever background you come from. People are going to be more empowered to lean in more into the domains where they excel at.”

Moving forward, the supply chain is in the midst of its most transformative era ever. With an unprecedented level of technology at the industry’s disposal that can supercharge operations, Srinivasan is positive about what the next few years of the industry might hold. “There’s never a dull moment, and I’ve said this to myself over and over for the past 10 years now,” he reveals. “I think the world’s changing faster than capacities are getting formed. But opportunities come out of challenges and you have to make the best of it. It is certainly exciting – there’s no doubt about it.”