SCDigest is a bit jaundiced on a lot of what has been written about so-called "supply chain resilience," of which there has been much since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

So it was good to find some reasonably insightful thinking on this topic in new article from the consultants at McKinsey on implementing new operation strategies for the times, a key element of which, McKinsey says, is improving resilience in the supply chain.

That includes the chart below, which provides a simple tool for assessing supply chain resilience. Note the indicated responses for each aspect of resilience are just example data illustrating how a company might rate its capabilities:

Source: McKinsey

"Building resilience means reconfiguring the supply chain and the supply base to minimize disruptions and other impacts arising from economic and political uncertainties," McKinsey says, citing as an example that " companies can develop alternative suppliers for critical components to reduce single-source dependency. They can also ensure buffer capacity in manufacturing facilities (their own and those of their supply partners) to enable fast reactions to demand changes."

But as we always ask, is it clear the addd resilience gained from those moves is worth the cost?

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