Define your supply chains

Your organisation’s Supply Chains Network will not become an ‘integrated’ system, as it comprises independent organisations with their own business objectives and policies. Instead, the requirement is to build knowledge about the Network and supply markets on which your organisation relies. The recommended approach is to Map your organisation’s supply chains.

Supply Chains are defined by Tiers of supply for inbound items to the business and outbound products distributed to customers.:

• Define the outbound supply chain for a product (or more likely, a product line or group) through each Node location of that supply chain, from the Tier 1 customers and downstream to their known customer’s and on to end customers or consumers
• Define the inbound supply chain for each purchased category of items, through each Node location of that supply chain, from the Tier 1 supplier and upstream through Tier ‘n’ suppliers until there is insufficient data
• As defining inbound supply chains becomes progressively difficult, the focus changes to gather intelligence about the supply market for each ‘critical’ material (as defined by the business)

A readable academic paper provides an extensive coverage of the mapping topic, with the discussion ranging from what the authors call Global Value Chain Maps through Supply Network Maps; Supply Chain Maps; Value Stream Maps to Process Maps used inside a facility. However, the approach used by Learn About Logistics has the second level name changed from Supply Network Maps to Supply Markets Intelligence, as this provides a clear difference between the objective of the activities. In this case, what the authors name as Supply Chain Maps can include all Nodes in the Network. For lecturers, the paper provides examples of maps at each level, together with diagrams that can be downloaded.

Supply Chains Design Map

The Map traces input items to the sites where they are produced or handled, which is called ‘part-site’ mapping. This enables your organisation’s Supply Chains group to quickly know which intermediate goods, parts/components or materials are likely to be delayed by an event that has or may affect a specific supply chain, physical site or input item.

The model for a supply chain has a collection of Nodes that directly participate in the production of physical items within a supply chain. Also, Links which identify how the participants in a supply chain are connected. This information is used at each Tier of a supply chain.