Designing Resilience In: How Strong Supply Chains Adapt Faster Than Disruption

When working capital is tight and volatility persists, what practical levers do you actually have to build resilience beyond simply carrying more inventory?

Mar 4, 2026 11:00

—

12:00

GMT

Online (MS Teams)

For senior supply chain leaders only

How this meeting works

Practitioner-led working session
No pitches
Small-group, facilitated discussion
Works best when you can engage actively
Chatham House Rule
Limited places to preserve quality

Why this session exists

Many organisations are experiencing three simultaneous pressures:

Ongoing volatility in demand and supply
Explicit working-capital targets from finance
Executive expectations to “increase resilience”

These pressures collide inside planning and inventory decisions.

Resilience becomes either:

An abstract ambition, or
An excuse for more stock

Chris Bassano’s experience across industrial manufacturing networks illustrates a different path:

Resilience is designed through operating model clarity
Planning discipline and governance matter more than buffers
Free cash flow is the language that unlocks change
The CFO is often the most important ally

This discussion is about how those structural levers show up in day-to-day decisions.

What you'll leave with

A clearer view of which resilience levers are genuinely within your control
A sharper understanding of how working capital reshapes resilience choices
A test for whether your S&OP forum is resolving trade-offs or just reporting them
Insight into how other operators reconcile service, cash and resilience
Language to reframe inventory from “buffer” to “structural lever”

Suggested Discussion Points

When working capital is tight, which resilience levers do you actually control beyond inventory?
How do service, cash and resilience trade-offs show up inside your current planning policies?
Where might inventory be masking structural misalignment rather than protecting performance?
What does “inventory entitlement” mean in your context and how do you test it?
How do you stress-test buffer assumptions under ongoing demand and supply variability?
Is your S&OP / IBP forum resolving trade-offs or simply reporting them?
How can supply chain translate operational decisions into free cash flow language that resonates with the CFO?
What structural shift (governance, demand ownership, network flexibility, cadence) would most improve resilience without inflating stock?

How the online session works

Each session is designed as an online equivalent of a small, in-room roundtable discussion — not a passive, webinar-style presentation.

The format adapts to the topic and the experience in the room:

Where participants already have strong knowledge, we typically start by inviting individuals to expand on specific points they have shared in advance. This helps surface real-world context quickly and anchors the discussion in practical experience.
Where the topic is less familiar or more specialised, we may begin with a short explainer to establish a shared baseline before opening up the discussion.

To support productive dialogue, we often invite a subject-matter expert to join the session. This may be someone from a vendor, consultancy, or independent background — sometimes from within the community, sometimes external.

Their role is not to pitch or present a solution. Instead, they listen carefully to the discussion and reflect back:

how similar challenges have been approached in comparable organisations
what has worked (and what hasn’t) in practice
concrete examples that help translate discussion into action

This balance is deliberate. Without it, sessions can drift into abstract debate or problem-sharing. With it, discussions stay grounded and participants leave with tangible ideas they can apply in their own context.

The emphasis throughout is on shared learning, practical insight, and forward progress, rather than polished presentations or predetermined answers.

Who this meeting is for

This meeting is designed for people working through real operational and innovation decisions, rather than those seeking presentations or general inspiration.

Who for

Supply Chain Directors / VPs
Operations leaders in manufacturing environments
Planning leaders responsible for S&OP / IBP governance
Leaders under working-capital or free-cash-flow pressure

Especially relevant if:

You are being asked to reduce inventory
You are under pressure to “increase resilience”
Your planning process feels reactive rather than designed

Who not for

Teams looking for:

Vendors seeking promotion
Organisations expecting a technology demo
Anyone not directly involved in operational-financial trade-offs

Anyone expecting a more passive, webinar-like experience.

What happens next

Participation is confirmed through a short, staged process designed to ensure a good fit and a productive discussion for everyone in the room.

Step 1: Register interest

You start by entering your details. This helps us understand your background and what you are hoping to get from the session.

Step 2: We sense-check fit and composition

We may follow up to clarify a few details. This isn’t gatekeeping — it’s about making sure the discussion works for everyone. We design sessions so participants are from broadly similar organisations and are working through comparable challenges.

Step 3: We manage sensitivities and conflicts

We take care to avoid competitive conflicts or situations where participants might feel constrained about what they can share. The goal is open, practical discussion without awkwardness.

Step 4: You receive a personal invitation

Once confirmed, you’ll receive a personal invitation with:

The session agenda
Who else will be joining
Clear joining instructions

You’ll know who is in the room well in advance — no surprises.

Step 5: The session itself

Sessions are interactive and roundtable-based, focused on real experiences and what actually works in practice.
To get discussion started, we may invite a participant, partner, or subject-matter expert to offer a short provocation or perspective.

Online Discussion