Strategic Agility in Supply Chain and Building Resilience in Motion

The turbulence of recent years has made one truth abundantly clear: resilience is not about predicting the next disruption, but about preparing to adapt when it inevitably arrives. Strategic agility has emerged as the operating principle that separates businesses that merely survive from those that thrive. This Special Report builds on a dynamic panel discussion that probed how organizations can combine foresight with flexibility—learning continuously, planning across multiple scenarios, and embedding responsiveness into the very fabric of their supply chains.

Strategic agility today is less about predicting the exact nature of the next disruption and more about preparing organizations to adapt quickly when it strikes. Scenario-based planning has become central to this shift. Instead of relying on linear forecasts, companies are increasingly stress-testing their supply chains against multiple “what if” scenarios—ranging from raw material shortages to sudden demand surges—so that they are never caught flat-footed. The essence of agility lies not in knowing what will happen, but in being ready for whatever may happen.

What stood out is that agility is not a single playbook but a mindset—shaped by data, sharpened by technology, and sustained by culture. Panellists weighed in on the pace of innovation: how startups leverage greenfield advantage to scale at speed, while incumbents grapple with the inertia of legacy systems. They debated whether automation and AI can truly neutralize disruption risks, and what a five-year roadmap for digital adoption might realistically look like. Beyond tools and technologies, the conversation circled back to the human dimension: redefining agility not just as faster execution, but as smarter, context-aware decision-making. As companies rethink distribution models, recalibrate customer value, and invest in adaptive operating structures, one theme is clear—strategic agility is less about chasing certainty and more about mastering change itself.

Startups have set the bar high by showing how clean-slate models—cloud-native, asset-light, and digitally integrated—enable them to pivot rapidly when markets shift. In contrast, established players often find their legacy systems and rigid processes slowing them down. Yet scale, supplier networks, and deep market access can become powerful assets if incumbents selectively modernize, whether by adopting modular digital tools or co-innovating with startups through partnerships and internal “digital garages.” The future will likely belong to those who can blend startup speed with enterprise strength.

Technology is emerging as the new muscle of agility. Artificial intelligence and automation are no longer optional—they are becoming the backbone of resilient operations. AI-driven forecasting is already reducing demand errors significantly, while automation in warehouses and last-mile delivery is lowering dependency on labor during crises. Many leaders now see five-year digital adoption roadmaps—anchored in predictive analytics, autonomous planning, and real-time visibility—as essential to managing uncertainty. The challenge is less about access to technology and more about seamless integration, ensuring that AI delivers value through clean, connected, and contextual data.

Yet agility cannot be reduced to tools and processes alone. It is as much a mindset as a capability. The most resilient organizations are those that empower teams to act decisively, strike a balance between efficiency and optionality, and treat disruptions not as setbacks but as opportunities to strengthen future preparedness. Continuous learning plays a pivotal role here—capturing lessons from past shocks, institutionalizing scenario drills, and embedding a culture that treats every crisis as a data point for the future.

Ultimately, supply chain agility is being redefined—not as speed for its own sake, but as the ability to absorb shocks, adapt intelligently, and emerge stronger. By weaving scenario planning, technological muscle, and a culture of continuous learning into their DNA, companies are proving that the true competitive advantage lies not in chasing certainty, but in mastering change itself. The following perspectives from practitioners and thought leaders provide a closer look at how these ideas translate into real-world strategies.

In today’s volatile and competitive marketplace, agility has become a buzzword. Drawing from your 18 years at Asian Paints, how do you define supply chain agility, and what has been your approach to achieving it?

Satyendra Patidar, General Manager – Supply Chain, Asian Paints PPG: If I look back 15–20 years, planning was very different. We relied on multi-year forecasts, fixed spreadsheets, and a linear approach—once you made a plan, you largely stuck with it. But the world has changed. Geopolitical shifts, Covid-19, evolving demand patterns, and new competition have disrupted those old assumptions. In this environment, agility is no longer optional; it is central to survival and growth.

For me, agility rests on two broad foundations—planning and execution. Planning is still critical, but it must be modular and flexible. Instead of static five-year roadmaps, we now need plans that allow for mid-course corrections every quarter, sometimes even sooner. Whether it is procurement contracts, capex for manufacturing, or the distribution network, each element must be designed with flexibility. For example, a factory investment that once assumed stable demand over five years must today factor in the possibility of significant shifts within two years.

On the execution side, I see three essential levers. First, processes—systems and planning tools must enable quick responses, not just monthly updates but even weekly or fortnightly adjustments. Second, people—true agility is cultural. It requires teams that can think on their feet, work in sync, and adapt collectively; it’s not just a top-down directive but an orchestra that must play together. Third, technology—legacy systems often limit responsiveness, so adopting digital solutions that support agile planning and distribution is vital. For instance, shifting sourcing from China to Vietnam or Indonesia can change lead times and costs overnight; only dynamic tools can help manage such volatility.

So, in essence, supply chain agility is about flexible planning, empowered teams, and adaptive digital systems. When these three pillars work together, organizations can not only withstand disruption but also turn it into a competitive advantage.

India’s economy is entering an exciting but complex phase. Alongside large corporations, MSMEs and SMEs are becoming critical growth drivers. With the rise of D2C and omni-channel models, increasing consumer expectations, and intensifying competition, how is your company strategizing to stay ahead in such a fragmented supply chain landscape?

Rajiv Ganju, Sr VP Manufacturing & Global Supply Chain, Luminous Power Technologies: That’s a very pertinent question. I'd like to give a simple analogy: the kitchen. To me, it's the perfect example of a supply chain. I grew up in Kashmir, where winters meant blocked roads and six months of ration stored in advance. Compare that to today: if you want an egg in the morning, you order it, and it’s delivered instantly. Back then, if guests arrived—whether two or twenty—no one ever went hungry because the kitchen managed demand planning and forecasting so seamlessly. The underlying principle, however, remains the same: a supply chain, just like a kitchen, must never break.

The pandemic was a profound wakeup call, moving supply chain discussions from the factory floor to the boardroom. It has become a strategic differentiator and a key enabler of business continuity. On the global front, COVID-19 exposed the risks of overdependence on a single hub, such as China. That was a wake-up call. This global disruption underscored the need for diversified and resilient supply chains. This is a clear opportunity for our nation. With our young workforce, competitive labour costs, and vast pool of engineering talent, we are uniquely positioned to be a central player. To seize this moment, we must excel in three parameters: quality, cost, and delivery.

To achieve this, we must empower the Tier-2 and Tier-3 SMEs and MSMEs who supply nearly 70% of components. Without strengthening them, no final product can be world-class. We are focusing on adopting a cluster-based manufacturing approach, which fosters collaboration and efficiency at scale.

Another critical area is technology. Traditional demand planning no longer works. Today, it’s about demand sensing—using modern tools like generative AI, conversational AI, and predictive analytics to capture shifts in real time. For instance, when we began our solar business, we planned for 500 MW capacity. Before that plant was even operational, demand spiked, forcing us to scale to 1.3 GW, and even that is not enough. This pace of change shows why digital tools are indispensable. Of course, the quality of data is fundamental.

Finally, we are tackling logistics, where our costs are among the highest. We are embracing multimodal logistics, shared warehousing, and platforms that pool loads to optimize transport. This is about creating efficiency for everyone; imagine companies with complementary seasonal demands sharing warehouses, for example. The formula is clear: if we can align our supply chains around these parameters, we will not just catch up but set our own benchmarks.

Supply chain innovation today is driven by technology, automation, and new distribution models. How are you harnessing these levers to scale operations and create value for your customers?

Rajiv Ganju: Sometimes, when we're too focused on cost, we miss the bigger picture. Take the hundreds of idle cameras in a factory, often just monitored by a security guard. With simple video analytics software, those same cameras can track intrusions, monitor safety, and even link with a weighing machine to automate scrap tracking. You are turning an existing asset into robotic process automation at minimal cost.

Another example is quality control. By connecting measurement tools to a system and adding a generative AI layer, we can automate the "OK" or "not OK" decision, eliminating manual work. You don’t need an expensive, custom-built robotic arm. Our own maintenance team can build a basic one for as little as ?30,000 using servo motors and software integration. When teams do this, they upskill and take ownership, focusing on  preventive maintenance instead of just firefighting. Small automation projects often provide returns in just six months. So, automation is about smart, low-cost adoption with a fast payback.

Kapil Premchandani, Founder & MD, KD Supply Chain Solutions: That’s a very relevant question. India is on a journey to becoming a $5 trillion economy, with ambitions to eventually reach $17 trillion. To handle growth at such scale, businesses need a strong  interplay of manpower and technology. Supply chains today can’t rely solely on traditional practices; automation and innovation are critical. 

Let me give a few examples. A typical truck loading or unloading process takes one to two hours. In our warehouses, where 50–150 trucks move daily, we’ve introduced innovations to cut turnaround times. One of the solutions we’re evaluating is from a Finnish company, Actiw, which offers automated loading systems. With their patented plate-based technology, a truck can be loaded in just 10 minutes—provided the entire inventory is palletized. Coca-Cola has already deployed this approach successfully, reducing turnaround times significantly.

Another area of innovation is warehouse design. Earlier, goods were stored on the ground; now, we store vertically. This shift requires heat maps to track throughput, helping us place high-velocity goods closer to docks to reduce picking and loading time.

We’re also exploring sustainable practices. Traditional wooden pallets are being replaced with pallets made from agro-wast-e, reducing carbon emissions. Similarly, we’re optimizing routes and experimenting with shared warehouse spaces where multiple companies can consolidate operations. This aggregation builds the scale necessary to justify higher investments in automation, which typically require a two-to-five-year payback.

On the order fulfillment side, quick commerce has raised the bar. In the world of modern retail, some operations process 10,000–15,000 B2C orders a day, while quick commerce players push the boundaries with volumes nearing 100,000. To keep pace with this scale, automation is stepping in—robotic picking and robotic arms are streamlining fulfillment and boosting throughput. What once seemed futuristic is now commercially viable, thanks to the sheer growth in volumes that make automation not just possible, but practical.

Yet speed and efficiency are only part of the equation. As automation scales, safety becomes equally critical. A careful balance between man and machine is essential to ensure smooth operations. For instance, consolidated picks are generated rather than order-specific picks, keeping pickers away from high-traffic aisles. Human movement is also restricted in zones where high reach trucks and forklifts operate. These measures not only reduce the risk of accidents but also sustain the efficiency that automation enables.

To sum up, innovation in supply chain is not about one big change but a series of small, thoughtful interventions—be it faster truck loading, vertical storage optimization, pallet sustainability, robotic automation, or safety systems. As volumes grow, these innovations will only accelerate, making supply chains faster, smarter, and safer.

Chetan Kumria, Founder & MD, Xcell Supply Chain Solutions: I think it’s a very hands-on perspective on where we stand with technology and automation today. It reminds me of something from about 22 years ago when I was based in Hong Kong, managing the Asia Pacific supply chain. We used to visit China back then, where we had around 42 factories in places like Dalian and other remote regions—all of them running with robotics and automation even then.

I also remember visiting a factory in Brussels, Belgium—Backster Ware. It was a dark factory, meaning not a single person was present in the warehouse. It shipped to about 140 countries, entirely managed by robotics. We literally had to switch on the lights to walk inside. That was 20 years ago, and now I feel it’s India’s time. It has taken us a while, but technology adoption here is finally accelerating. The challenge, however, is that we’re a very cost-conscious market. It’s not that companies don’t want to invest in these technologies in India, but our consumers still want a ?2 product. That creates constraints.

Quick commerce players, many without formal supply chain teams, have digitized and scaled at breakneck speed, while traditional companies remain tied to manual, legacy processes. What enables these startups to disrupt so fast, and are legacy systems holding established players back?

Rajiv Ganju: Innovation is not just about ideas—it’s about timing. If you solve a problem too early, the market isn’t ready to adopt it. Solve it too late, and it’s no longer innovation, it’s catchup. A classic example is the smartphone. Motorola introduced one well before its time, but it was Apple that brought it to market at the right moment with the right ecosystem. We’re now standing at a similar inflection point.

We are now at a similar inflection point. With the rise of the metaverse and immersive digital ecosystems, the next wave of disruption will be virtual marketplaces. Imagine companies and customers interacting directly in a seamless environment—browsing, transacting, and experiencing products in entirely new ways. This won't just add a new sales channel; it will redefine what we mean by omnichannel.

The inevitable shift is from B2B dominated systems to more direct B2C engagement. Why should a customer’s journey still be mediated by multiple intermediaries when technology allows for frictionless, real-time interaction? In the future, the company and the customer will not just transact—they will converse, co-create, and build relationships in ways we’re only beginning to imagine today. That is where the true opportunity lies.

Milind Mandlik, Supply Chain Director – Asia Pacific, Ashland India: There’s a very fitting analogy. A shark confined to a tank can only grow to the size of its environment, but when released into the ocean, it has the space to grow to its natural potential. For decades, large and established companies have operated within their own ‘tanks’— bound by structures, regulations, legacy systems, and deeply embedded ways of working. These frameworks created discipline and reliability, but they also limited how far and how fast organizations could stretch.

Startups, on the other hand, entered the ‘open ocean.’ They weren’t burdened by inherited processes or constrained by the fear of disrupting existing models. Free from legacy baggage, they challenged conventions, experimented at speed, and scaled with agility. Their ability to think without boundaries—and to leverage digital tools from day one—allowed them to transform the very fundamentals of supply chain execution.

The real lesson here is not just about technology adoption, but about mindset. Established companies need to recognize that what held them steady for years may now be holding them back. To unlock their full potential, they must step out of the ‘tank’ of legacy processes and embrace a more open, experimental, and agile way of working—just as

startups do. That mindset shift is what will truly differentiate future-ready supply chains. I’d emphasize that this is not only about tools or technology but also about behavior and change management. Frameworks like S&OP and S&OE are essential, but they cannot operate in a vacuum. They need to be tied closely to commercial realities and, most importantly, to customer expectations. Without that connection, supply chain efforts risk becoming one-sided—robust in process design, but lacking real business impact.

Satyendra Patidar: I would look at this from a slightly different lens. Tools and technologies—whether robotics, e-commerce platforms, or IIoT systems—are, at the end of the day, just enablers. The more fundamental question every supply chain professional must ask is: what problem am I really solving, or what opportunity am I unlocking, for my organization and the larger ecosystem?

If you think about it, e-commerce did not succeed simply because of technology—it succeeded because it addressed the problem of convenience. Uber was not about apps and GPS—it was about solving the hassle of booking and the assurance of reliable availability. The technology was the enabler, but the clarity of the problem being addressed was the real driver.

In our organizations too, that clarity is critical. Once we define the opportunity—whether it’s responsiveness, cost efficiency, or customer experience—then automation and AI can be deployed with much greater impact. For me personally, success is defined very simply: my sales team should win every single order. That means the supply chain must deliver such superior quality, consistency, and service reliability that customers see clear value, even at a premium. If that requires transforming forecasting, redesigning distribution, or rethinking demand planning, then that’s where I focus my energy. Problems will always be dynamic, but once they are clearly defined, solutions tend to follow.

The encouraging shift I see today is that automation is becoming more accessible. Thanks to economies of scale in IIoT and cloud-based platforms, solutions that once seemed prohibitively expensive are now well within reach for many organizations. This democratization of technology is a huge advantage.

Looking ahead, I believe the real inflection point will come from the shift away from traditional B2B models toward B2C and even direct-to-consumer models. Why should a salesperson still be burdened with manually managing distributor inventory? Why should orders rely on phone calls, emails, and manual entry into ERP systems? This model feels increasingly outdated in a digital-first world.

In the next five years, this process has to change fundamentally. We need systems that are predictive, automated, and seamless—where inventory, demand, and fulfillment are all digitally synchronized. That shift, in my view, will be the true game-changer in how supply chains operate and deliver value.

Kapil Premchandani: To bring this into perspective, the idea of going direct-to-retail or even direct-to-consumer is not entirely new. In fact, FMCG majors in India experimented with it years ago—Hindustan Unilever’s Project Samadhan in Chennai and Project Sangam in Mumbai were early attempts to cut through the distributor layer and service retailers directly. The vision was right, but the timing wasn’t—digital infrastructure was weak, supply chains weren’t agile enough, and retailers themselves weren’t ready to adapt. As a result, those pilots remained limited in scale. But what seemed premature then has become viable today.

With the explosion of digital infrastructure, affordable data, UPIled payments, and a more tech-savvy consumer and retailer base, the ecosystem is finally aligned. That’s why models like BigBasket could scale so rapidly—they didn’t reinvent the wheel, they capitalized on the foundations laid earlier, but brought timing, technology, and execution together. The signal is clear: the future supply chain is shifting toward more direct engagement between companies and customers. The pace may vary by sector and capability, but the trajectory is irreversible. This isn’t just about bypassing intermediaries—it’s about building supply chains that are more responsive, data-driven, and customer-centric.

How do you envision the roadmap for strategic agility in supply chains? Specifically, how are you integrating AI and automation, and what does your five-year technology adoption plan look like for managing disruptions?

Milind Mandlik: Automation is not new to us. I recall my own eight-and-a-half-year stint with Covestro (formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience) across Asia, where developed markets were already far ahead. I was personally part of the ‘No-Touch Order’ concept back in 2008–09 when the US and the German companies were actively experimenting with automation.

Post-COVID, the urgency to accelerate data collection, integrate predictive models, and move multiple steps ahead became clear. AI and automation are no longer “nice-to-have” but foundational to supply chain competitiveness. When I look across Asia, the story varies. Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia are technologically advanced, even if their economies are relatively flat. However, customer behavior differs—Japan and Australia, for example, plan and forecast meticulously, smoothing supply management. Developing economies like India, Indonesia, and Thailand, however, require far more demand sensing. This is where AI and automation bring immense benefits.

At our organization, we are transitioning to integrated business planning (IBP). Alongside IBP, we run Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) at frequent intervals to flag risks—whether shortages or disruptions—and plan mitigation. End-to-end visibility is another priority, enabled by TMS, SAP integrations, AI-driven forecasting, and demand sensing tools.

Looking ahead five years, I see AI, IoT, and blockchain becoming the foundation of supply chain strategy. However, every industry is unique—you can’t simply replicate the Amazon or Flipkart models. What matters is aligning with business needs and prioritizing cost-effective solutions. For us, that means scaling automated warehouses and investing heavily in digital twin technology, which mirrors real operations and helps test multiple scenarios. Metaverse-based planning is another emerging frontier—offering predictive insights and virtual decision-making environments.

India is catching up quickly. Our SMEs and subject-matter experts are now delivering the kind of support that earlier required global platforms. The talent pool is deep, and that gives me confidence. However, adoption still varies. Each industry weighs investments carefully, as customers ultimately drive cost pressures. Nevertheless, with the right AI frameworks, augmented reality, and digital-first mindsets, I believe we can achieve resilience and agility.

MASTERING CHANGE, NOT CHASING CERTAINTY

The disruptions of the past have only been a preview of the volatility that lies ahead. Climate shocks, geopolitical realignments, fluctuating demand cycles, and accelerating technological change will ensure that uncertainty remains a permanent feature of global supply chains. In this future, success will not depend on eliminating disruption but on anticipating it, absorbing it, and turning it into a source of advantage.

Equally important, the future of agility will be defined by culture as much as by technology. Organizations that empower their people to act on insights, institutionalize continuous learning, and foster cross-functional collaboration will create operating models that are both adaptive and enduring. Those that learn to master change—rather than chase the illusion of certainty—will not only survive the next era of disruption but actively shape it. In doing so, they will set the pace for what supply chains of the future are meant to be: intelligent, resilient, and primed for growth in an unpredictable world.