SOMERSET, N.J., Nov. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Our environment is evolving, and we must evolve with it. Climate change is impacting the entirety of the supply chain, and businesses in the natural products industry must take it seriously, cautions Anand Swaroop, Ph.D., a biochemist, co-founder of Nutrify Today, and founder of the evidence-based nutritional ingredient supplier, Cepham. In his natural products insider series “Cepham Sense,” Swaroop offers starting points for companies who want to begin to make moves that impact the environment and supply chain.
“Climate change is a slow-moving crisis that is going to last a very long time, and it’s going to require some fundamental changes in the way we look at the supply chain,” said Swaroop, whose 30 collective years in both the natural and pharmaceutical industries provide him with a diverse perspective. “Businesses are bound to face an economic crisis if they do not adapt their practices now based on climate changes in order to continue operations in the future.”
A starting point to chart a climate ready supply chain begins with these actions:
- Develop deeper relationships: Supply chain relationships must go beyond the transactional approach. One must define, discuss, understand and bolster the suppliers’ business continuity despite climate change.
- Map it in depth: Identify all the sites across the world that directly and indirectly, support importing, warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing, by land, sea, and air. Invest in the available tools, such as blockchain technology to make data visible and available in real-time.
- Simulate climate-related crises: Develop mock recall models for climate-related events to learn about all possible scenarios. This will help you analyze and compare different supply-chain-network configurations and sourcing options to manage climate risk more effectively.
- Invest in early-detection systems: Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered scanning of climate news and events in many languages can provide weeks’ and sometimes months’ notice of emerging climate risk events and developments. Such climate monitoring and predictive systems have become essential to running a globally dispersed supply chain.
AI technology cannot predict extreme weather, but it can provide a clear picture of critical events, which have the potential to threaten a company's supply chain and logistics. These insights along with the location of suppliers, warehouses, fleets, and ships, enable teams to know when to activate backup plans or look for other sources or routes to ensure that critical resources arrive on time. In the long-term, AI helps determine if businesses should permanently change suppliers based on location and how often extreme weather events occur near them.
“Climate change is affecting every inhabited region across the globe, and its impacts go beyond the environmental effects that immediately come to mind,” said Swaroop. “Business leaders should create a sense of urgency for climate adaptation, leverage risk management and scenario modeling, and match action to risk and opportunities.”
To discover more strategies to adapt to climate change effects on the supply chain for the natural products industry and other business insider tips subscribe to “Cepham Sense” at: https://cepham.com/cepham-sense. Cepham was one of the first in the natural products industry to use blockchain technology and is known worldwide for its pioneering work in identifying new active ingredients in Ayurvedic plants. Learn more at: www.cepham.com.
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