Prewave

A part costing a few cents could have stopped up to 90% of Renault’s production. Thierry BLEIN, who led supply chain risk management and business continuity at Renault Group, describes a simple component from a supplier in an earthquake zone, in a building that didn’t meet the seismic code. Finding a second source would have taken more than 18 months, and nobody saw the risk until purchasing, engineering and supply chain shared one view of it. From episode 11 of the Supply Chain Superintelligence Podcast with Thomas George. 🎧 Full episode in the comments.

Ten years ago, Working Capital Fund saw a market coming: impactful, scalable and commercially viable solutions to the systemic problems facing workers and the businesses that employ them. Their 2025 Impact Report tracks how that category has grown, and Prewave is one of the featured case studies, alongside portfolio companies linking competitiveness with responsibility. In the report, our Chief of Staff, Susanne Schaller describes where we’re heading: “We are going from reactive resilience, where you get alerts about things happening, to a more proactive approach where we say, based on certain probability scores, what’s happening in your supply chain, and you can act early.” That’s exactly what we’ve built next: Quantified Resilience links global risk signals to your own BOMs, inventory and revenue, so you see what a disruption will cost and know which risks to act on first. Thank you, Working Capital Fund, for helping define this category and for backing us along the way. 📖 WCF Annual 2025 report: https://lnkd.in/dBEDieWU

💡14 days of stock. A 45-day recovery. That's a 31-day gap, and that gap has a price. Prewave's specialist agents calculate revenue at risk from your own parts, stock and sales, counted only for the days you're uncovered and never twice. So the number you take into the meeting is one you can defend. [LINK IN COMMENTS]

Renault had been protected for six weeks before others even knew there was a problem. When a chemical plant exploded in Pennsylvania, the alert reached Renault's control tower within 24 hours. Within two weeks, an alternative source was secured. Prevention matters, but no company can fully secure a global supply chain. The reaction has to be just as strong. Thierry BLEIN, former head of supply chain risk and business continuity at Renault Group, in episode 11 of the Supply Chain Superintelligence Podcast with our host Thomas George. 🎧 Full episode via the link in the comments.

💡 Safety stock. Second source. Air freight. Spot buys. Penalties. Most companies already spend heavily on resilience. It's just spread across so many budgets that nobody owns the total, and nobody can defend it with a number. Here's how Quantified Resilience changes that for procurement leaders. [LINK IN COMMENTS]

Pub Quiz, Oktoberfest edition 🥨 Yesterday the Prewave office got a bit Bavarian, with a Viennese twist. Dirndls came out, pretzels and Leberkäse disappeared fast, a few Krügerl were raised, and the teams got very serious about trivia. Our Graz office and other remote colleagues joined online, so the competition reached well beyond Vienna this time. There were some loud discussions about answers and a few surprise winners. Also a lot of people who were sure they knew that one. 😝 The Pub Quiz is easily one of our favorite office traditions and big thanks to Justine Rogers, who started the tradition and keeps it going. See you in March, for a Spring edition? We’ll be practicing. #LifeAtPrewave #Oktoberfest

🚨 The circuit board supply chain has tipped from tight supply into allocation. Laminate makers are now rationing output by customer, and lead times for standard FR-4 laminate now stretch to six to eight weeks. What began with the premium materials inside AI servers has spread to ordinary boards. The same furnaces, looms and laminate lines serve both markets, and capacity has been moving to the grades that earn the most. Our latest Prewave Supply Chain Analysis explains where the pressure comes from, who supplies the constrained materials, and how the shortage reaches each industry.

What happens when 180 Prewavers from around the globe gather once a year for Prewave Summit? We work hard, play harder, race through a scavenger hunt at Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of Vienna's most beautiful museums, and then sing our hearts out at karaoke. Same time next year? 🎤 #PrewaveSummit #LifeAtPrewave

Last week, our CEO Harald Nitschinger shared his insights on automotive supply chains at the Mondial de l’Auto - Paris. A special thanks to our partner Capgemini for the invitation!

📍 Being close to an event is not the same as being affected by it. When the Kumamoto earthquake hit, around 50 suppliers were flagged for one German manufacturer. Prewave's specialist agents brought that down to 11 that needed review, and surfaced the one immediate production halt. [LINK IN COMMENTS]