Russia-Ukraine Crisis Necessitates Increased Supply Chain Vigilance

As we watch the events in Ukraine unfold, our hearts go out to the families that have been displaced and those who have lost loved ones. This situation impacts people, communities, and organizations on a global scale. Supply chains are a part of that impact in ways that are complex to understand and impossible to ignore. Having resilient supply chains is more crucial than ever to continue to provide critical services or products to local and international communities. 

 We recommend companies consider the following points when evaluating their supply chain:

• Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter. Combined with Ukraine, they account for approximately 29% of the global wheat export market.
• Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s largest suppliers of metals and other commodities, including palladium, copper, nickel, and platinum. Nickel is a key material used in electric car batteries while copper is used in consumer electronics.
• The United States microchip industry is heavily reliant on neon sourced from Ukraine.
• Logistical routes that include the Black Sea are expected to be severely impacted if not unavailable for the foreseeable future.
• Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of oil. Not only will this affect individual consumers, but line-haul trucking rates and other transportation costs are expected to increase.
• US agencies have warned major banks, businesses, and governments to anticipate increased Russian ransomware attacks. Companies are encouraged to revisit cybersecurity awareness training programs, review software patching processes, and ensure that unused user accounts are inactivated or terminated.

To mitigate these risks, organizations should evaluate the short- and long-term availability of their suppliers, as well as increase their visibility beyond immediate suppliers and create redundancies throughout the supply chain.

The most immediate action is a comprehensive evaluation of your supply chain and cybersecurity posture.  Archer is providing the attached free assessment for customers with Third Party Catalog to help organizations determine potential impacts to their supply chain due to this crisis.  Companies should determine if they are reliant on vendors or downstream providers that are based in Russia, Ukraine, or neighboring regions. This includes nth parties and outsourced IT and customer service providers. Additionally, logistical routes and reliance on transportation services should be evaluated.

This is a very fluid situation that warrants a heightened state of supply chain awareness as conditions continue to evolve.