Supply chain - Insights from the aerospace sector Globalisation naturally leads to extended supply chains but customer requirements depend on a fast response. How are these two disparate trends handled in the modern supply chain?

The impact of demand change on the extended supply chain due to globalisation and the options for mitigating it are discussed. It is also shown how fast supply chain simulation can assist in comparing potential solutions. Two fundamental risks are managed: time mismatch between tc and td total, where tc is the elapsed time between the time a customer places an order to the time the finished product is received while td total is the cumulative manufacturing and physical logistics process and delivery times; and volume mismatch between forecast demand on which a supply chain has been designed and planned and the actual demand that materialises. The risks may be mitigated by a collaborative forecasting and planning processes, thereby distributing the risk as well as achieving greater consensus to the schedule