Solutions -- What is needed for effective supply chain design?

Strategic supply chain design projects typically require multifunctional teams because of the nature of the required data and underlying assumptions. Depending on the business questions being asked, information is typically needed from manufacturing, logistics, supply chain planning, product development, marketing, material supply, commercial, and sometimes customers or suppliers.

On the technical side, strategic supply chain design requires multiple solution techniques to get at the right answers. This means modelling and analytics have to be applied within a structured methodology.

To improve the competitiveness of their supply chains, companies need to be able to assess and understand their cost drivers. This is why companies often start out with the aim of identifying the least-cost (or maximum profit) supply chain network using optimisation.

Most companies soon realise that supply chain design involves handling four areas that are inherently linked

Structural questions about the physical attributes of the supply chain network and associated costs (e.g., product sourcing decisions)
Operational policies and processes and their effects on the dynamic behaviour of how goods, information and cash flow through the network (e.g., inventory replenishment, customer service levels)
Configuration of the products and services, which are delivered through the supply chain network to particular markets, channels and customers
Organisational capabilities (e.g., cost/timing/difficulty of implementing changes)

Understanding how to deal with these interlinked areas in supply chain design has become increasingly important. Empirica's approach retains clarity in handling interlinked supply chain issues and deals with financial and non-financial business performance metrics.

Strategic supply chain design can involve an iterative process, requiring experienced practitioners able to deal with both cost optimisation and dynamic simulation. Empirica's consultants have many years of proven experience delivering value to clients from supply chain design.