The Climate Crisis Threatens Supply Chains. Manufacturers Hope AI Can Help

When clothing designers place an order at Katty Fashion’s factory in Iași, Romania, they expect a bespoke service. If necessary, the factory will even rejig its production lines to make whichever garment a designer commissions. “From order to order, we may have to adapt,” says Eduard Modreanu, the company’s technical lead. “We cannot create one production line or shop floor that fits everyone.” This adaptability is useful given the many diverse clients and orders Katty Fashion juggles, but it could also help future-proof the company against climate shocks. Katty Fashion is part of an EU-funded project called R3GROUP, which aims to help firms boost the resilience of their supply chains against disruptions caused by climate change and other factors. “Let’s say there’s going to be flooding in Germany, and we get our materials from Spain,” says Modreanu. “They cannot get here any more.” As part of the R3GROUP project, Katty Fashion has worked with researchers to build a forensic underst ... Read full article.