Chain Reaction

In this episode of Chain Reaction Tony Hines discusses sourcing strategies and examines reasons why they are critical for securing supply chain advantage.

One of the most important considerations for any organization is where to source product and which suppliers to select. Building an effective supply base is critical to the success of most organizations. The decision to source is often divided into three geographical considerations: local, national and global. In this episode of Chain Reaction Tony Hines discusses sourcing strategies and examines reasons why they are critical for securing supply chain advantage.

Many supply managers prefer to purchase from local sources when prudent to do so. Local purchasing has a number of advantages that may include: 

• close co-operation through close proximity, e.g. enabling JiT solutions; 
 • more certain delivery dates since lead times not affected by transport delays and other risks may be reduced depending on location (e.g. natural or human disasters may be more prevalent in certain parts of the world such as earthquake zones or nearby volcanoes and wars); 
 • short lead times may eliminate inventory; 
 • faster replenishment possible from local source;
 • discrepancies and disputes may be more easily resolved; 
 • implied social responsibilities to the local community may be satisfied. 

However, local suppliers may lose out to national or global suppliers where: 
• local cost of the items is higher; 
• particular goods cannot be supplied locally to the same standard, specifi cation or price;
• markets supplied are not local and therefore it makes more sense to source closer to the market; 
• better service is possible from a non- local supplier;
• restrictions may limit the local supply source, e.g. quota restrictions.

Buying nationally May have the following advantages: 
 • national sources offer better quality and/or; 
 • faster delivery and/or; 
 • cheaper prices through economies of scale (or scope); 
 • national companies may provide better technical back- up and support services; 
 • greater production fl exibility may be achieved through national sourcing; 
 • shortages may be less likely because of their size or extensive supply networks. 

National supply sources may lose out to international supply sources for the same reasons local suppliers may lose out to national suppliers listed above.

Global sourcing may yield large rewards but risks are often higher than when sourcing supplies locally or nationally. The main reasons that organizations decide to source from overseas are: 
• Uniqueness - to procure goods not easily sourced locally or nationally
• Superior quality - to access goods that are better quality than those locally or nationally
• Better timeliness - to improve lead times
• Lower cost - to improve profit margins
• More advanced technology - to gain access to technologies not easily accessible 
• Broaden supply base and spread risk
• Expanded customer base using suppliers as a way into global markets

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

Two of my 7V’s are volume and volatility. I have examined volume and volatility as part of my research into supply chain performance across a number of firms in different industries and in different geographical settings. I also worked on supply chain projects with firms in different industries to develop improvement strategies where volatility in demand and volume oscillation caused problems.  So let’s look at the causes of volume volatility.

Volume is a throughput measure in a supply chain from the point of entry to the point of delivery. In a continuous supply chain there might be several suppliers of raw materials and a number of interconnected organizations that make up the whole supply chain through to the final customers. Mapping a supply chain and the process steps will create visibility and allow the analyst to determine just how interconnected the supply network is.  This is the first step in finding the cause of disruptions and the likely risks. Supply chains connect organizations at nodes within the chain or network. For example, sourcing raw materials from a supplier is an output for the supplier and input to process for the purchaser. Let’s look at a simple example to illustrate this.   An example would be wheat harvested by the raw material supplier is milled and flour is their output. This is a raw material input to the production hub and they might produce two product lines bread and cakes. The bread and cakes are finished goods outputs from the baker production hub and these are now distributed to wholesale and retail outlets before the final customer consumes the products. Within the supply network information is exchanged as is payment and of course the materials including raw materials and finished goods.

Upstream we have farmers then millers and bakers. Each of these is removed from the final customer where demand is triggered in a retail store. You or I walk in search for products we want to buy and pay the retailer. As we do so the bleep at the checkout registers the sale and lowers the stock keeping units (SKU) we purchase by how many we buy. The data are stored in the retailer system and as sales rack up at the stores stock is lowered in the system until it triggers an order to the supplier of finished goods. In our example this is the baker. The baker will order more flour from the mill and the millers will order more wheat from the farms. Even in this simple example you can see that at each node there is an opportunity for disruption to occur in the supply chain. In this supply chain the retailer will have data that shows established daily, weekly and monthly sales patterns for the product. 

There are possible disruptions at each stage of a supply chain from harvest, to shipping of wheat with ships delayed or damaged in storms, road transport disruptions on land, equipment breakdowns or strikes at a flour mill or at the bakery or some or all of the firms in the supply chain may become insolvent. So there is plenty of scope for disruptions to occur even in this relatively simple supply chain. So imagine the opportunities for disruption that exist in more complex supply chains.

In the types of situation described when demand volatility oscillates throughout the supply chain we experience what Jay Forrester called system dynamics taking over from any planned or controlled flow through the supply chain. The Forreseter Effect is often referred to as the ‘Bullwhip’ since the dynamics within a supply chain oscillate as demand signals are amplified.

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

End to end analytics is a term that describes a means of integrating data sources from different supply chain activities and process cycles to understand supply chain performance with the intention of developing improvement strategies. End to end analytics provides supply chain visibility. In this episode I explain why end to end analytics are needed and how you can set about the task of creating your own metrics to measure process performance. I have worked with many retail supply chains over the years and understanding what drives cost and adds value is necessary to improve performance. I use the example of retailers to explain the types of end to end analytics that they use to do that. It is an important example to understand fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). Inventory management is an essential part of retail profitability.

Process Maps

Process mapping has been a useful tool to understand what is happening in the supply chain or in any complex system. The DAMA project was one of the best examples of process mapping which analysed every step in US textile supply chains from harvesting cotton through production and distribution to the final customer. If you really want to understand your supply chain then you have to get data about the detail which is exactly what happened in the examples I discuss in this episode. Knowing how much time and cost is involved within each process is the first stage of understanding where cost is incurred and value created. From the process map you can create metrics to inform decisions about improvement strategies.

Understanding end to end analytics

Understanding end to end analytics is in mathematical terms a linear programming problem where you want to optimise performance by managing constraints. This is not simply an efficiency matter but it ensures service quality. From the point of origin through to the final customer there are many process cycles that need to be managed. End to end analytics should not simply be thought of as part of an enterprise resource planning system ‘big fix’. The hard thinking is in understanding what data you need to manage the end to end supply chain from point of origin through to the customer and beyond – e.g. consumption and waste management. End to end analytics provide the opportunities to share data and eliminate silo mentalities to better understand the supply chain for the benefit of all.

Application

In my Supply Chain Strategies Book I give the example of five performance objectives which are cost, speed, quality, reliability and flexibility. If your performance objective is to lower cost then you need data that indicates the cost of each operation, process or cycle. If the performance objective is speed – cycle or process time, lead times and delivery times are some metrics that will be part of your dashboard. I discuss those here along with quality, flexibility and reliability together with the types of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and you can read more detail in the book. In some ways end to end analytics are easier to implement today with cloud based systems and software technologies gathering data from a variety of sources providing you understand how to integrate it. Comparable data requires careful planning and execution. Structuring data are the key to success.

Read more at Tony Hines Blog

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

What does it mean to be Market-Driven?

In the industrial age it seemed that building capacity to manufacture at scale and developing capabilities to innovate and build better goods than a competitor would be enough. However, one little detail is overlooked which is we have no mention of customers or the market. This is what came to be known as the ‘inside-out’ view of an organization that is a resource-based view. The alternative ‘outside-in’ perspective seeks to look at the organization from the customer’s vantage point. What does the customer experience tell you? To be market driven you need to know what your customers want. You have to identify your customers: who they are, where they are and what they want and are prepared to pay for. This is a market oriented viewpoint. Organizations that do this are said to be market-driven.

What is customer focus and why is it necessary?

Peter Drucker famously said “It is the customer who determines what a business is. It is the customer alone whose willingness to pay for a good or for services”. He went further to say “it is what customers determine as value,” that is important. In an age of production recognising that the customer is at the centre of everything the organization does may have seemed presumptuous. Many businesses focused on innovation, engineering and management science searching for wealth. These different foci are of course necessary but not sufficient because it is the customer who pays and determines value. “It is the customer who determines what the business is, what it produces and whether it will prosper” according to Drucker.

So why Market-driven, Customer-focused Supply Chains?

Well putting the two together it is necessary for the whole organization to be market oriented and have an outside in view of itself from the market. If you want to produce what the market wants you have to understand the signals to meet demand. In aggregate terms the market consists of buyers and sellers of which the organization is just one amongst many for the latter category. Many customers gathered in the market determine production by signalling what they want to buy at any given price. As a supplier it is necessary to know what customers want to meet demand. Demand determines what is supplied in the short, medium and long-term. Profit and return on investment ensures continuity of the business. Focusing on customer needs is essential.

Customers exert enormous pressure within and beyond the market. Recent societal movements to combat climate change, enact sustainable practices and conduct ethical trading have strongly influenced organization behaviour and supply chain practices in relation to sourcing, production, packaging, distribution and the treatment of waste including end of useful life recycling and reuse.

Read more...
at Tony Hines Blog

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

Over six days in March 2021 a real-world drama unfolded as the MV Ever Given was stranded in a narrow section of the Suez Canal just 6km in from the southern entrance. The disruption to supply chains in Europe with goods coming from Asia was estimated at around $10 billion dollars for each day the canal remained closed. The incident demonstrates the reliance placed on the Suez Canal and indeed other waterways that link continents. The gigantic container ships that sail continuously around the globe bringing essential as well as non-essential goods to businesses and consumers are a vital link between producer, supplier and customers. 

Ever Given is one of the longest container ships in service with a gross weight of 220,000 tonnes and a dead weight around 200,000 tonnes, powered by a low speed two-stroke diesel engine. The fully laden draft of the ship is under 15 metres. It has an all Indian crew establishment of twenty-five. In addition to the crew there were two Egyptian Pilots helping guide the ship through the canal from the Suez Canal Company when it ran aground on Tuesday 23rd March 2021 in heavy 40 knot winds and a sandstorm.  You can listen to my story about six days that closed the canal and disrupted global supply chains in this edition.
 
 Eight tugs tried to dislodge the ship on Thursday 25th March but without success. The next attempt tried removed 30,000 cubic metres of sand and mud from underneath the grounded ship. On Sunday 28th March with fourteen tugs and dredging taking place a small amount of water was said to be moving under the ship. Consideration was being given to removing some or all of the containers to lighten the load but this is no easy task and there is no handling equipment nearby to achieve that. On Monday 29th the ship was finally freed from its lodged position across the narrow stretch and it was moved to the Great Lake Area of the Suez Canal where at the time of writing it remains undergoing inspection. On Tuesday 30th March ships stuck in the canal began to get underway to their own destinations after a long delay.  The repercussions from the disruptive event are likely to last weeks if not months. It is likely ships will be delayed entering the destination port with delays likely to cause congestion. There is also the knock on effect of delays for goods stacking up at Asian ports for future deliveries and a shortage of containers given they will be delayed on their return journeys. Freight costs may well increase adding to prices paid by customers.
 
 You can read more on Tony's Blog

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

President Biden issued a policy statement which put supply chain resilience at the heart of the US Economy. An extract from the policy statement states:

“The United States needs resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to ensure our economic prosperity and national security.  Pandemics and other biological threats, cyber-attacks, climate shocks and extreme weather events, terrorist attacks, geopolitical and economic competition, and other conditions can reduce critical manufacturing capacity and the availability and integrity of critical goods, products, and services.  Resilient American supply chains will revitalize and rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity, maintain America’s competitive edge in research and development, and create well-paying jobs.  They will also support small businesses, promote prosperity, advance the fight against climate change, and encourage economic growth in communities of color and economically distressed areas.”

So this made me think more about what all organizations can do to make their own supply chains resilient when faced with external threats, disruptions and volatility within their own supply chains. In this episode I discuss some key ideas about supply chain risk and how supply chains can become resilient. Identifying vulnerabilities and assessing the risk is the first step to designing resilient supply chain strategies.  

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

In this episode of Chain Reaction attention is on the post-Brexit supply chain evaluating the impact of leaving the EU for firms in three industry sectors in the United Kingdom, services, food and fisheries. We know that promises made by government ministers about taking back control, doing great trade deals with the rest of the world and life outside of the EU being less bureaucratic have not yet materialised. 

The UK officially exited the European Union on 31st December 2020. UK Government statistics show trade with the EU approaching 52 per cent for exports and 48 per cent for imports. Both in volume and value the EU is the UK’s principal trading partner. Having left the customs union means that tariffs and quotas are possible on either side when trade is conducted. 

In the twelve month period leading to the UK exit from the EU Customs Union concerns were raised by many hauliers that the previous roll-on roll-off ferries could be disrupted at UK ports if trucks had to que to access ships while export documentation was checked.  There were press reports about the M25 becoming a lorry park. The government’s commitment to build additional lorry parks approaching ports has reduced the impact but whether or not this is a long-term solution to the problem when trade increases remains a question-mark.

Summary of immediate impacts:

Services: There were few, if any arrangements for services as part of the Prime Minister’s deal concluded at the eleventh hour. In any commercial setting critics might be asking serious questions if they left the negotiations with a major trading partner to the last minute,  It emerged in press reports in February that Amsterdam has become the major financial services centre in the EU taking over from the City of London. This was widely trailered during the period between the Brexit vote and leaving but little was done to remedy the threat posed after the UK left the EU. Financial services alone are worth £126,000 million to the UK Economy (ONS, 2019).

 Food: The UK food and drink supply chain is worth £120 billion with £23 billion of that exported to 220 countries all over the world. It is the biggest manufacturing employer in the UK larger than automotive and aerospace together (FDF, 2020). During 2020 many food retailers had raised concerns about cross-channel trade and highlighted that delays would cause shortages and empty shelves in supermarkets. Retailers moved swiftly to stress test their food supply chains in an attempt to make them resilient in the face of this threat. Nevertheless, Ian Wright CEO of the Food and Drinks Federation has said that food exports to the EU fell by 60 per cent in January 2021.  The Road Haulage Association estimated that exports through UK ports was down by around 68 per cent in January 2021.

Fisheries: During the November 2020 in the run up to the December 31st Brexit deadline Fisheries became a sticking point of the deal. Fish represent a very small percentage of the total trade between the two parties (UK-EU i.e. 0.2%).  Regaining control of fishing rights was a key part of the rhetoric in the ‘Leave Campaign’ The time would have been better spent thrashing out the Services part of the economy. Time added to a supply chain through delay is always problematic for a supplier but for perishable goods it is disastrous. One exporter of lobster, crab and prawns said his consignment of £50,000 worth of goods was delayed over 30 hours at the port.  The Fishing Industry is valued at £437 million (ONS,2019).

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

Supply chains are service systems creating and delivering value to customers. In this episode Tony Hines discusses value, customers and service. Attention is focused on what value means to customers in the supply chain and how consumers perceive value received from brands in consumer markets. This informs what happens inside supply chains and guides strategic choices. 

Value and the value based consumer. Brands spend a great deal of money reaching out to consumers. Consumers seek value from price, service and how the brand compares to competitor offerings. Brands need to be ethical, sustainable and fulfil the promise in delivery. Structures, policies and strategies need to be clear and they expect transparency, consistency and reliability.

In the early part of the twentieth century scale was the key source of competitive advantage. By the latter part of the twentieth century expertise in supply chain management was needed. Nowadays, it is critical to focus on the needs of the customer. Value is created by understanding customers and what drives value for particular customers (c.f. 7V’s). Serving customers effectively and efficiently are the twin objectives of supply chain leaders. Effectively giving consumers what they want when they want it on time and complete. Efficiency is about achieving higher value added through process management keeping input costs low and output values high. Service is necessary to add value and retain customers. Whether this is created through flexible manufacturing systems, faster response times, reduced lead times it is paramount for supply chains to be agile, lean and adaptable. Supply chain leaders need to understand the value drivers to pull the right leavers. Value is not created until all costs are covered by revenue. Value is created through service to customers.

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

In this episode Tony Hines discusses recent changes in the macro environment as well as in society at large and the risk and uncertainty that plays out in the supply chain. Complexity and Disruption provide a focus for the discussion. Supply chains are discussed as complex systems. Disruptions emerge as the complexity of the system increases. Visibility is key to understanding the changes and the risks involved. Recent changes in the global economy give rise to further complexities and key trends are identified.

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...

Tony Hines developed his  7V model to identify value drivers in supply chains. These Vs were validated in his research studies of international supply chains. Value is created within the supply chain by lowering cost and increasing value for customers. This often results in saving time and speeding up throughput. If Supply Chain cycle times can be reduced you lower cost and people get paid faster.  Each of the V’s has a unique role to perform. The 7V’s comprise: Volume, volatility, velocity, variety, variability, virtuality and visibility. Each is explained briefly in the podcast.

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About Tony Hines and the Chain Reaction Podcast – All About Supply Chain Advantage
I have been researching and writing about supply chains for over 25 years. I wrote my first book on supply chain strategies in the early 2000s. The latest edition is published in 2024 available from Routledge, Amazon and all good book stores. Each week we have special episodes on particular topics relating to supply chains. We have a weekly news round up every Saturday at 12 noon. ...