The Power of Modern Supply Chain Modeling

Supply chains typically grow in increments to meet the needs of a growing business—whether it is delivering the next product line, expanding into a new territory or entering a new market segment. As a result, a company’s global footprint is in large part shaped by many small decisions rather than the pursuit of one overarching ideal.

In addition, the demands on supply chains are dynamic and uncertain. Relentless changes in customer requirements and supplier capabilities, unanticipated competitive pressures, ever shifting business and seasonal cycles and global marketplace fluctuations such as currency exchange rates can rapidly erode supply chain performance if companies cannot anticipate and adapt.

Adaptation becomes even more challenging when the supply chain grows to the point that no one has a clear end-to-end view of operations. It may even become impossible to identify many of the most significant sources of under-performance, let alone address them. The result? Large supply chains often bleed millions of dollars of operating profit and tie up millions more in assets. However, supply chain modeling can help stanch this flow of losses.

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