What is Supply Chain Design?

“Supply chain design is the processes and activities involved with analyzing your current supply chain, the overall network in the system, understanding its limitations, and then creating a blueprint for a future supply chain that’s a better fit for the environment and the challenges you’re looking at — that’s design in a nutshell,” said Don Hicks.

In other words, supply chain design is the process of modeling your current and future-state supply chain, allowing companies to create scenarios to analyze the trade-off between financials, service, and risk. The main goal of supply chain design is to create the supply chain you need to thrive in the future.

“If you’re not designing your supply chain, it will design itself.” Don Hicks

What’s the Difference Between Supply Chain Design and Supply Chain Planning?

“Supply chain design isn’t trying to run and manage your current supply chain better. That’s supply chain planning. Supply chain planning is one thing, design is another, and both are necessary,” said Don Hicks.

Supply chain planning and supply chain design are distinct technologies. Supply chain design is how you change and improve the entire supply chain system, how you “shift the efficiency frontier”.  A supply chain that is poorly designed—or has evolved to be out of step with the environment—limits how optimal your supply chain planning processes will be. With a better design, your best planning decisions can get even better.     

• Supply chain design deals you a hand. Supply chain planning means playing that hand to the best of your ability.   
• Supply chain planning is how you win in the short term. Supply chain design gives you the ability to survive and thrive in the long term.  

 Most companies want—and need—both. The real mistake is to pretend that design and planning are the same thing.

Is it Possible to Operate a Supply Chain Without Supply Chain Design?

“I want to highlight this for everybody — C.H. Robinson is one of the leaders in this field. They’ve embedded the notion of what-if analysis into their culture. This capability lets them figure out how to make changes in real-time without risking the operation. And you know, C.H. Robinson and Ryan have internalized this concept, so for them, design is just looking ahead and making changes to the network. That is an incredibly powerful capability! How do you survive without it? I don’t know,” said Don Hicks.

Understanding what-if scenarios in your supply chain is crucial for planning and preparing for future disruptions. By modeling potential scenarios, such as sudden demand spikes, supplier failures, or transportation delays, businesses can identify vulnerabilities and develop contingency plans. This proactive approach enables companies to anticipate and mitigate risks, ensuring resilience and continuity even in the face of unexpected challenges. 

“Being able to look into the impacts of different decisions and just knowing those tradeoffs…that’s what’s key to supply chain design,” said Ryan Bischoff. 

In today’s volatile market, the ability to foresee and adapt to disruptions not only safeguards operations but also provides a competitive edge, allowing businesses to maintain service levels and customer satisfaction under any circumstances.

How Do You Stay Ahead of the Competition in 2024?

“Investing in supply chain design solutions now might keep your company alive in three years, and failing to do so might be the thing that makes you become an acquisition target,” said Don Hicks.

In 2024, staying ahead of the competition requires leveraging advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics. These tools enable companies to analyze vast amounts of data to forecast demand, identify potential risks, and optimize supply chain processes. Additionally, fostering collaboration and partnerships within the industry can provide access to innovative solutions and best practices, allowing companies to adapt quickly to changing market dynamics.

Related: How to Prepare Your Supply Chain for 2024 Election Results

What Should You Consider When Choosing a Tech Partner?

“All software is going to have a bug. But when we can’t figure out how to do something — which doesn’t happen a lot since my team’s pretty strong, but when we need that assistance — is the support reliable? How is it going to integrate into our organization, and the biggest thing is, will there be continuous improvement and evolution?” said Ryan Bischoff. 

To select the best supply chain design technology partner, it’s crucial to consider factors such as the partner’s expertise in the industry, the scalability and flexibility of their supply chain design solutions, and their ability to integrate with existing systems. Additionally, evaluating their track record of successful implementations and their commitment to ongoing support and innovation is essential. 

Hop into Cosmic Frog and see why this supply chain design solution is changing the game.

• Cosmic Frog network optimization runs 40% faster than competitor solutions
• Fastest response time for new features
• Intelligent Greenfield Analysis runs 80% faster in Cosmic Frog