From the Desk of Wade McDaniel
Welcome to the Spring 2018 edition of Supply Chain Navigator.
Last month, more than 150 million of Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal customer accounts were compromised, in one of the largest reported cyber breaches to date. What’s most distressing about this incident is that it wasn’t the worst cybercrime news of the week. Just a few days prior to the UA infiltration, a ransomware attack was waged on the Baltimore, Maryland 911 dispatch system. The cyber seige disabled a portion of city’s emergency response systems for nearly 18 hours.
As the proliferation of IoT-enabled connectivity across industrial control, automation and infrastructure systems progresses, these kinds of systems-debilitating cyber incidents are among the most feared and hardest to protect against for both civil and commercial enterprises. In this issue’s Supply Chain Spotlight feature, we look at the cybersecurity issue from the distinct perspective of the industrial supply chain. With insights from cyber supply chain subject matter experts from organizations including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Cisco, we address the growing risk and some of the more common sense, surprisingly low-tech approaches that best-in-class organizations are adopting to combat this new virtual enemy.
Our Spotlight section also includes a contributed commentary from our friends at Deloitte, who look at cybersecurity through the lens of the growing adoption of additive manufacturing, and the challenges companies face as the intrinsic value of their business shifts from the end product to the information that enables that end product.
We also go One-on-One in this issue with Stuart Pann, Chief Supply Chain Officer of HP Inc. It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for HP since the split from HPE, but the company is thriving and Stu shares some of the supply chain strategies he believes have been crucial in driving the “reinvention” of HP.
This issue also introduces a new Op-Ed section, in which we provide supply chain leaders the opportunity to communicate some more personal reflections on their jobs and the supply chain profession as a whole. Our inaugural column comes from Ivan Kelly, a supply chain executive from Ireland who shares a bit of his journey as he embarks on a search for a new position, after the company he worked for shuttered its facility in the region.
Rounding out the issue, we have two contributed pieces – one from Cisco looking at the application of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence in the supply chain and the other from a team of researchers who are investigating supply chain strategies to deal with natural resource scarcity. Finally, we take a deep dive into General Dynamics Mission Systems’ EDGE Innovation Sourcing Network. EDGE is a unique effort the company has developed to collaborate more closely with the supply base on the development of bleeding edge technologies to ensure the company’s customer base of military and first responders have the very best tools possible as they protect and defend national interests.
Hope you find these articles of value and interest. If you do, please share with colleagues and peers. We also welcome your feedback, so please keep the suggestions coming: Avnet.Velocity@avnet.com.
Until Next Time,
Wade McDaniel
Many thanks to the SCN Editorial Advisory Board for their support and guidance:
 Emile Monette Cybersecurity Strategist, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Cybersecurity and Communications |
 Ivan Kelly Former Director, R&D Supply Chain Innovation HP Inc. |
 Mark Cotteleer Research Director, Center for Integrated Research Deloitte Services |
 Daniel Perry Senior Account Executive EcoVadis |
Questions or comments about our publication can be directed to Supply Chain Navigator Editorial Director Diane Trommer at Diane.Trommer@Avnet.com Connect with Diane via LinkedIn.