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Reducing the fragility of global Supply Chains in the event of disruption through natural or other disasters is a major concern for most senior executives.\u00a0 This rings true more so now than ever, as the world grapples with COVID-19, the worst human health crisis in 100 years.<\/p>\n
The strategies to enhance the effectiveness and readiness level of Supply Chains and to reduce risks associated with disruption come with a price.\u00a0 These costs are critical to build Supply Chain Resilience<\/a> across all industries.<\/p>\n However, these expenses are, generally, considered a hindrance in the implementation of risk reduction strategies by many leaders.\u00a0 This is one of the major factor that precludes them from anticipating and managing Supply Chain Risks.<\/p>\n Able leaders anticipate these risks and invest in building organizational resilience. \u00a0They leverage a couple of potent Supply Chain Risk Reduction Strategies<\/a> that have nominal impact on cost efficiency but offer substantial reduction of disruption risks:<\/p>\n It is vital for organizations to diversify their supplier base to avoid disruption of their Supply Chains in the event of a natural disaster.\u00a0 Manufacturers have been found to have been using pooling\u2014combining resources, inventory and capacity by maintaining fewer distribution centers\u2014and producing common parts to help reduce costs.\u00a0 However, too much pooling and commonality can make the Supply Chain vulnerable to disruption.<\/p>\n For instance, relying too much on a single supplier and common parts\u2014in an effort to be as lean and efficient as possible\u2014became a Supply Chain Analysis<\/a> nightmare and cost Toyota billions of dollars in terms of lost sales and product recalls in 2010. \u00a0Back then, the auto manufacturer was counting on a single supplier for a common part for many of its car models, which was effective in curtailing costs, but turned out to be a disaster.<\/p>\n Organizational leadership should evaluate the trade-offs between having a leaner and efficient Supply Chain\u2014with common parts and single suppliers\u2014and preparing for and reducing the risks of disruptions. \u00a0Minimizing the number of distribution centers offers diminishing marginal returns for Supply Chain Performance and increases the Supply Chain Fragility. \u00a0Creating little bit of commonality presents significant advantages, but when more parts are made common the benefits shrink and it rather becomes detrimental.<\/p>\n The key for senior leaders is to find an optimal balance between resource pooling, creating common parts, and deciding on whether to decentralize or centralize their Supply Chains.\u00a0 Decentralization (e.g., by having multiple warehouses or plants) increases costs as it requires more inventory, but it does curtail the effect of disruption significantly. \u00a0Centralization or pooling of resources, on the other hand, reduces total costs, but the cost again goes up by centralizing beyond a reasonable degree. \u00a0Recurrent Supply Chain Risks necessitate focusing more on centralization and pooling of resources and commonality of parts, while rare disruptive risks necessitate decentralization. \u00a0Achieving a state of equilibrium between pooling of resources, parts commonality or fewer plants helps keep Supply Chain Risks low. \u00a0Ignoring the possibility of disruption can be very expensive in the long term.\u00a0 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. always maintain at least two suppliers, no matter if the second supplier supplies only a fraction of the volume.<\/p>\n The risk of disruption of supply chains due to any unforeseen event is typically considered a rare possibility and goes unaccounted for during planning by most executives.\u00a0 A fire break out at a distribution center, defective auto part, or a supplier\u2019s facility closure for a prolonged period of time can happen anywhere, but we tend to underestimate the likelihood of such events.\u00a0 The reason for this is attributed to the requirement of assigning a significant chunk of investments upfront from the already limited resources and budgets, to prepare for and mitigate likely disruptive risks.<\/p>\n Most of our typical risk assessment measures involve approximating the probability and the likely damage caused by an event. \u00a0Estimating the likelihood of disruptive risk to a reliable degree isn\u2019t easy even for large multinationals\u2014even an auto manufacturer like Toyota could not anticipate the occurrence of the part failure issue until the damage had been done.\u00a0 These risk estimations do not have to be strictly precise.\u00a0 Rough estimates of disruption risk are fine\u2014any small mis-estimates that occur have negligible consequences.<\/p>\n Senior leadership needs to cautiously contemplate the areas that are likely to get affected the most due to potential disruption.\u00a0 Building resilience does not cost much for large organizations.\u00a0 In the long term, doing nothing costs much more than investing in preparing for a probable disruption.\u00a0 When disruption occurs, the loss incurred greatly exceeds the amount of saving executives save by not investing in risk mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n Interested in learning more about the subject in detail?\u00a0 You can download an editable PowerPoint on Supply Risk Reduction Strategies<\/strong> here <\/u><\/a>on the Flevy documents marketplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library<\/a>. 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While FlevyPro contains resource material that any consultancy, project or delivery firm must have, it is an essential part of a small firm or independent consultant’s toolbox.”<\/p>\n \u2013 Michael Duff, Managing Director at Change Strategy (UK)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n “FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight \u2013 it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”<\/p>\n \u2013 Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n “Several times a month, I browse FlevyPro for presentations relevant to the job challenge I have (I am a consultant). When the subject requires it, I explore further and buy from the Flevy Marketplace. On all occasions, I read them, analyze them. I take the most relevant and applicable ideas for my work; and, of course, all this translates to my and my clients’ benefits.”<\/p>\n \u2013 Omar Hern\u00e1n Montes Parra, CEO at Quantum SFE<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reducing the fragility of global Supply Chains in the event of disruption through natural or other disasters is a major concern for most senior executives.\u00a0 This rings true more so now than ever, as the world grapples with COVID-19, the worst human health crisis in 100 years. 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<\/a><\/p>\nDiversify Supply Base<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Overestimate Likelihood of Disruptions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do You Find Value in This Framework?<\/h2>\n