Modern supply networks are widely dispersed, complex, and constantly morphing. Today very few supply chain participants are well-informed regarding who does what where in order to deliver products on time.
The Modern Slavery Act and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act are but two of several legal and regulatory provisions that are emerging to require greater awareness and accountability for safety, sustainability, and ethical practice across whole networks.
Risk resilience is very seldom referenced as a goal of these provisions. But the tracking and auditing capability needed to achieve these other purposes will also support a better understanding of innate network risk.
Sourcemap (visual above) is one of several new players -- or long-time players with new capabilities -- offering tools to allow supply chain operators to precisely capture sourcing, processing, packaging, distribution and more.
Sourcemap promises to "identify the weakest link in your supply chain automatically through inventory mapping and TTR (time-to-recover). Receive automated alerts on disruptions affecting your suppliers. Measure your supply chain against risk probability heat maps."
But here's the issue: visualizing major supply chains is analogous to visualizing weather or other complex entities. It can be done. But accuracy will vary. Complexity allows for probability assessments, not precise prediction.
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