#Business Consulting
#Supply Chain
#Supply Chain & Operations
Shock-resistant Supply Chains with integrated Moore-method
As we all witnessed (or experienced – just think about the lockdowns, rising energy prices, etc.), disruptions are becoming increasingly common. Today, we have the pleasure of talking to two Supply Chain experts, Bob Swaegers and Wouter Biesmans, to gain their insights on Supply Chain Disruptions and what companies can do to navigate these challenging times!
So Bob and Wouter, what exactly is Supply Chain Disruptions and Resilience?
Wouter: “Well, a Supply Chain Disruption is any event that disrupts the production or distribution of goods or services. These can be global, like the pandemic or geopolitical developments, more local, like natural disasters, or even limited to a single company, such as cyberattacks.”
Bob (nods): “Supply Chain Resilience on the other hand is the ability to anticipate disruptions and create plans to avoid them or mitigate and/or recover from the consequences.
It is clear that Supply Chain Disruptions and Resilience is a hot topic. Certainly, companies are already taking actions to face these challenges. What are some options available to them?
Bob: “A couple of months ago, we conducted a cross-industry survey with over 100 Supply Chain Executives. The majority are moving away from the Just-In-Time (JIT) philosophy and are building up extra buffer inventories. They are also revisiting their portfolios of finished products as well as their supplier base. These actions clearly confirm that the focus is shifting towards risk management.”
Wouter: “Moreover, the longer a supply chain is, the more sensitive it becomes to disruptions. Therefore, other options are re-shoring manufacturing and/or investing in IT and data-driven ways to improve logistics monitoring. “
Bob (laughs): “In case you missed it, we also wrote an article about how Data can take Supply Chain Planning to a whole new level.”
This is all very interesting! Does Moore offer services to help companies improve their Supply Chain Resilience?
Bob: “Yes, we developed an integral approach consisting of four steps.”
“The first step is to assess the current resiliency level by conducting a Supply Chain Resilience Assessment in cooperation with our partner ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). This assessment takes about two weeks. The outcome is a debrief report, clearly indicating the strengths and watch-outs.
The next step is to identify improvement opportunities and translate these into a comprehensive improvement roadmap.”
Wouter: “The third step is where the fun begins.” (laughs) “Now we get to use one of the many tools available in our toolkit to effectively improve the organization’s resilience. A concrete example is for instance our Supply Chain Network Value at Risk Map, which increases the End-to-End transparency. Or, our Failure Mode and Effect Analysis –adopted from the lean philosophy – which can help to develop the organization’s Strategic Risk Mitigation Capability.
Finally, our fourth and final step, is to set up Resilience Governance, so that the Resilience Approach becomes embedded in the overall Supply Chain Strategy.”
Bob: “It is important to note that not every step of our framework needs to be taken. For example, the first step can be conducted as a stand-alone exercise to assess whether your company is ready to tackle whatever the universe might have in store.”
Wouter (knocks on wood – laughs): “Hopefully the next disruptive event will not be for tomorrow, though!”
Thank you for this intriguing conversation! I wish the both of you, and all companies out there, the best of luck!
During the Supply Chain Disruptions & Resilience webinar, Bob and Wouter demonstrated the Supply Chain Resilience methodology developed by Moore in collaboration with ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). Watch the webinar again here.
