As weather-related events pile up with the same alarming frequency as auto collisions on New York’s Belt Parkway and Long Island Expressway, I find myself counting supply chain disruptions when I can’t sleep.

When we think of manufacturing as an activity, it is easy to imagine a busy place in which humans and robots work together to make things from parts produced in that factory. In fact, much manufacturing activity today is actually an act of assembly. Manufacturers including Apple, Ford, General Electric and so many others gather components from around the globe and join them together to produce a finished product.