Strategic Supply Chain Design

Strategic supply chain design provides advanced modelling and analytics to align supply chain strategy with business objectives. Empirica use two major categories of model representation in supply chain design: cost optimisation (network design) and supply chain (event-based) simulation. These approaches are complementary. Combining both approaches within a rigorous methodology for supply chain design creates far greater business value and deeper insights from strategic planning.

Examples of the kinds of questions that can be answered by strategic supply chain design are provided below. It is important to note that Empirica's approach to supply chain design can answer multiple questions simultaneously and provide an integrated view about how to improve supply chain performance.

• Product Sourcing
• Which facilities should be used to supply products to specific customers/markets/channels to deliver at lowest cost whilst meeting our inventory and customer service targets?
• Is it better to make or buy when supplying a particular product family to a market?
• Are there cost-savings if we re-allocate products or re-align our production capacity across facilities?
• Which suppliers should we use and what capabilities are needed to best integrate with our supply network?
• Would a mix of global sourcing and local sourcing allow our supply network to operate efficiently and react quickly when needed?
• What is our cost-to-serve particular groups of customers?
• Can we gain insights about our competitors by analysing part of their supply chain?
• Reaching business targets
• What are the key drivers affecting our ability to reach our targets for working capital or cost/margin improvement? What amount of improvement is possible?
• What changes in the supply network would best allow us to reach our targets?
• What are the most effective options for reducing inventory?
• Product Innovation
• Where should new products be sourced from in our existing supply network?
• If we source new products globally, what will be the impact on customer service and inventory from the longer lead time?
• If we simplify or harmonise our product portfolio, what would be the impact on supply chain performance?
• What would be the impact on our supply network if we postpone where final products are differentiated?
• Supply Chain Capabilities
• We have several different supply chain improvement initiatives, but which ones will add most value?
• If we introduce this new supply chain technology, how will it impact our supply network?
• If we add new supply-chain capabilities, will they compromise any aspect of our existing supply network?