Towards supply chain excellence using network analysis

The literature suggests a growing interest in the application of network analysis in supply chain management. However this has been at the organizational rather than the process level. We believe there is value in applying such analysis to internal processes in supply chain networks. This study uses network analysis techniques to investigate the Stewart framework for excellence in supply chains which considers the impact of delivery performance, flexibility and responsiveness, logistics cost and assets management. We analyze traditional process flow charts as a network in which nodes represent processes, and links between processes have values associated with dimensions of excellence. The supply chain is analyzed and viewed using measures of centrality and clustering related to the dimensions of excellence, and compared with traditional perceptions of the same processes which are more related to time criticality. Overall, the study indicates that traditional means of managing supply chains are not only unfocused in terms of excellence, but are compromised through inability to recognize the importance of various process groups, with a serious mismatch of resourcing as a result. The study provides early findings supporting the future development of a methodology to better manage supply chains using network analysis, in particular to better prioritize resources on critical processes.