UK Defence Supply Chain Strategy November 2022

Our colleague Professor Richard Wilding, OBE has written the foreword to the recently released UK Defence Supply Chain Management Strategy. The emphasis is on resilience and adaptive capability of the supply chain.

The increasing occurrence of “black swan” events is creating a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment (VUCA) where many of the approaches adopted over the last few decades are increasingly ineffective.

The “old normal” supply chain was configured for a world typified by relative stability. “Just in time” and “Lean Approaches” were predominant, efficiency and cost reduction were the focus facilitated by the frictionless global flows of people, products and materials. Supply Chain professionals describe this as Mode 1 operation with a focus on predictability.

The idea of Mode 2 supply chains which are characterised by agility and flexibility was present in in the “old normal”. They require speed, a culture where strategies are developed for solving the unexpected and adapting to disruptions, new technologies and the rapidly changing business environment. However, in most competitive environments Mode 2 received little attention. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has come as a wake-up call.

The UK Government has realised that it must be able to manage both Modes equally well.

 The whole paper is available here.