Speed — A New Supply Chain Capability
Organizational or operational change does not happen overnight, but that doesn’t mean that speed — in decision-making, embracing change, bringing new products to market and responding to disruption — is not of the essence.
How will speed become a greater dynamic in the future for supply chains?
Inside Supply Management® asked supply chain practitioners, leaders, consultants and other subject-matter experts that question; their answers are below.
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Charlotte De Brabandt, DBA, Chair of Institute for Supply Management®’s (ISM®) Thought Leadership Council: Speed will increasingly become a competitive advantage, but speed without sound judgment can create significant risk.
AI can help organizations identify anomalies, model scenarios and generate recommendations much faster than traditional processes allow. The opportunity is to shorten the time between identifying a signal and making a decision.
However, many organizations will remain constrained by siloed structures, lengthy approval processes, unclear accountability and resistance to change.
The answer is not to eliminate governance. It is to design governance that enables faster, better decisions. That means clear decision rights, predefined escalation paths, trusted data and appropriate autonomy for teams.
The winning organizations will not necessarily be those that move fastest in every situation. They will be those that know when to move quickly, when to pause, and who has the authority to act.
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Kobu Kotaraju, MBA, CPSM, CPSD, global procurement lead, CBRE Singapore: In the past, speed meant faster transit times, rapid air freight and shortened production runs. By 2030, speed will be measured differently:
Compressing the detection-to-action cycle. The traditional quarterly review and monthly planning cycle are too slow for volatile markets. High-performing organizations are shifting toward continuous, scenario-based orchestration.
When a geopolitical event, port strike or raw material shortage occurs, competitive advantage belongs to the firm that can simulate alternate options, identify qualified secondary suppliers, and re-route allocations within hours rather than weeks.
Decentralized decision mandates. Speed requires organizations to dismantle rigid bureaucratic sign-off ladders. Forward-thinking companies define pre-approved operational risk thresholds and playbooks, allowing frontline teams and cross-functional task forces to execute contingency plans immediately when agreed trigger points are reached.
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Mike Dobslaw, supply chain planning and product life-cycle management (PLM) solution leader and the global OMP alliance lead at EY, based in Raleigh, North Carolina: We have seen the real unlock of control towers.
With automation of the “core” traditional functions happening quickly, we’ve seen increased activity as clients now can lean into sales and operations execution (S&OE) and control towers — more and more decision-making — and the advent of agentic integrated business planning (IBP) is occurring.
The challenge will be more of governance, empowerment and what decisions are made where, when trust in the data supersedes the ability to take action. Without a proper balance, we could see chaos as supply chains are constantly bull whipped by decisions.
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Nestor Belsol, MBA, global supply chain director at Atlantic Bearing Services in Miami and member of the 2025 ISM 30 Under 30 Rising Supply Chain Stars: We’re always going to be in a continuous race to be faster. And to be fair, that’s probably good — the world is moving a little bit faster.
But I also see that being an issue — rushing product development, trying to be the first one, trying to be the latest. So, there’s a positive and a negative when it comes to speed. Like in anything, there needs to be balance.
Still, speed is going to be critical when responding to supply disruption.
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Stephanie Thomas, Ph.D., professor of practice and executive director of Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence (WISE) at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas: We can speed up decisions. We can speed up technology. But if we’re importing products or materials, ships are only going to go so fast.
There are things we can speed up to a point, but then there’s just the actual logistics of moving, processing and counting — all of which take time. There’s an element of time we can work with and an element of time that is out of our control. There are some things we just aren’t going to be able to make faster.
Perhaps we can speed up a boat. And air freight is quicker, but it’s more expensive.
Cost and speed are major trade-offs in supply chain. But even as things become quicker, there are certain things that we are never going to be able to overcome. And geographic distance is a thing that we are going to always have to work around.
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Jeffrey Wincel, D.Min., MBA, executive adviser and senior vice president/CPO emeritus at NXP Semiconductors: Correctly sizing the procurement and supply organization is the first step in achieving short-term success and long-term wins. This is often where many companies fail.
When times are difficult, cuts are often made in the operations and supply organizations. It is impossible to build lasting winning technique when C-suite leadership makes it difficult (if not impossible) to build winning attitude. The best performers who possess the greatest skills are often the first to leave when they recognize leadership treats their skills as a commodity instead of a valuable asset.
Career development and lasting structural stability lead to better, less risky and faster decision-making. Empowerment cannot be handed down by outside functional or executive leadership who lack the operational, procurement or supply chain skills the empowerment affects.
Instead, highly skilled and experienced procurement/supply leaders at all levels must proactively take on the empowerment, and by way of successful execution, “earn” greater empowerment and autonomy. Often, the best way to win is for the coach to step aside and allow its all-star team to play the game for which it was hired.
(Photo credit: Getty Images/Bim)