Supply Chain Visualization

From the readings this week we learned about the importance of data driven decisions in managing inventory in a supply chain, but what do you do when it is time to display your data? Sourcemap.com offers a great visualization tool. Here is an example of Toms: the shoe maker with the One for One program that sends a pair of shoes to a developing region for every purchase of a pair in a developed region (please excuse the pejorative use of "developed").

This map displays the distribution of the end product to the distribution hub in areas near to the recipients of the One for One program.  This is the “downstream” part of the supply chain, but it is just as easy to display the “upstream” or procurement part of the supply chain. Here is an example of Tropicana’s distribution network with the upstream location in Brazil and the distribution/manufacturing hubs located all over the world.

These images, however, only give a “big-picture” approach to the distribution network of a supply chain. Therefore, much more information is required before making any managerial decisions. For example, in the article “building a Flexible Supply Chain for Uncertain Times” from McKinsey we saw how important it is for a flexible production process that is capable of “shifting manufacturing locations quickly as shipping costs change.” [1] Thus it would be useful to overlay manufacturing capabilities onto these maps so that we can quickly view where manufacturing can be utilized for varying demand. Overlaying such information could go further still. For example, one could highlight the inventory levels in each of the distribution hubs in order to quickly evaluate safety stock and replenishment requirements as discussed in “Managing Inventories – Reorder Point Systems,” or you could overlay costs requirements for each leg of the network in order to evaluate cost-effective network paths and so-on.

What other data/information could you add to these maps?

Do you know of other visualization tools that might help in displaying a supply chain?

[1] Building a Flexible Supply Chain for Uncertain Times (Glatzel, Helmcke, and
Wine, McKinsey Quarterly, March 2009