Resilience

Perspectives

Building operational resilience for supply chains

Supply chain strategies to drive agility

Disruption—we’ve all faced it. From COVID-19 to the Suez Canal crisis to labor shortages, unforeseen circumstances have crippled the global supply chain ecosystem. As disruption continues, how can organizations build operational resilience and agility to drive growth? We share a framework for success and examples of companies leading the charge.

Recent disruptions expose need for operational resilience

Over the past few years, multiple disruptions have created a ripple effect throughout the supply chain networks and ecosystem. From the COVID-19 pandemic to semiconductor chip shortages to trucking shortages, these disruptions demand a paradigm shift in the traditional recovery approach of global supply chains. Along with the near-term imperative of financial viability, organizations are also deliberating about a long-term strategic response mechanism, trying to pursue two key objectives: first, recovery from short-term disruptions (build operational resilience) and, second, grow ahead of peers to sense and prepare for fundamental shifts in demand and supply (build operational agility).

Building operational resilience and agility

Improve operational resilience and agility with Illuminate-Sense-Act

It’s vital that organizations have end-to-end visibility into their supply chains, including internal and external stakeholders. To prepare their supply chains for possible risks, organizations can model their supply chains digitally and uncover weak links by exposing them to probable threats. Our Illuminate-Sense-Act framework can help organizations address pertinent issues.

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How to build operational resilience

Operational resilience is the ability of supply chains to quickly recover from the shock of supply chain disruption—to build up “defenses” to prepare them when unforeseen events occur. To quantify their operational resilience, organizations need to measure three things:

  1. Capacity buffer
  2. Operational execution speed
  3. Supply chain visibility

Organizations can build operational resilience by investing in technology-enabled solutions that provide visibility, flexibility, collaboration, and control.

How to build operational agility

Operational agility is the ability to use network shock as an opportunity to grow. The first step toward achieving agility is to map the supply chain ecosystem with real-time data on inventory, supply, distribution, production capacities, and customer demand and then use that visibility to reorganize your supply chain assets to deliver. To quantify their operational agility, organizations need to measure the following:

  1. Ecosystem integration
  2. Process integration
  3. Market sensitivity

Organizations can build operational agility by synchronizing operations across all supply chain processes and prioritizing actions based on predictive models and real-time alerts.

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A best-in-class approach to operational resilience

At Deloitte, we tailor our approach to specific client needs—no matter where you are in your journey to building operational resilience and agility—by taking a collaborative, iterative approach emphasizing speed to value. Our select capabilities:

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