Supply Chains Fail When They Don’t Flow

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the March-April 2023 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

March-April 2023

In June 2013, Frank Quinn stepped down as the only editorial director Supply Chain Management Review had ever known. “In thinking about those whom I’m indebted to for the success of SCMR over 16 years, there is one constituency that must rank first on the list—you, the reader,” Frank wrote, as he handed over the reins to Bob Trebilcock. Now, Bob has done the same, handing over the reins to the next generation. I am very proud to be that next generation. In a farewell letter of sorts, Bob wrote that he was the “old” and I as the “new.” Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no old or new, only continuity. That continuity is…

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In the natural world, we are continuously aware of movement and flows. Snow falls onto mountains, melts in the spring and flows into the rivers, which flow into the ocean. Birds flow from northern hemispheres to southern climates, and then go back again. The tides flow back and forth with the moon, and gravity pulls objects to the center. We learn from natural flows about how things move. In the last several years, supply chains stopped moving. The reasons for this range from the COVID-19 pandemic’s direct impacts on production output in China, and material supply chain disruptions, labor shortages as well as unexpected demand surges. All of these have one common denominator: The flow or movement of materials is constrained by their physical design.

What are the barriers that prevent our global supply chains from flowing?

We need to unleash supply chains, not control them

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parts and products flowed quickly and fluidly, navigating their way around barriers to reach their destinations. By applying principles from the physical world, we can reduce the friction that disrupts our supply chains since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But doing so will require managers to rethink their concept of how global supply chains are governed and will necessitate bold investments in technology, tighter supplier relationships, and a change in traditional supply chain thinking.

The principles of flow are grounded in physics, which provide a number of simple and important laws that are irrefutable; these laws determine how fluids, electricity and matter travel. Physical flows are measured using metrics such as speed, distance, electrical flow and other dimensions. But these physical flows can also be used to assess the design and management of supply chains. Drawing from our recent book, we propose a set of five simple guidelines that can be applied to improve the simplicity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of supply chains.

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