When we undertake projects like constructing an edifice, assembling an airplane, installing new information technology (IT) systems, we first assess & plan the scopes & requirements. We confirm our vision for the project, do a reality check of what we have currently, and analyse the gaps we’d have to bridge or bypass.
We identify the opportunities & challenges from the gap analysis, and we then define the problems which underlie them. The solutions we formulate would determine the tasks we’d need to do to build our supply chains. Tasks are the components of every project roadmap and supply chain projects are no exception.
It’s easy in some projects to enumerate the tasks. Typical projects such as the construction of houses, assembling of ships & planes, and introduction of new software can be straightforward in many cases. Problems are foreseeable or have been solved from experience with similarly previous projects; the solutions & corresponding tasks are known.
Not so for supply chains, however, and for any supply chain for that matter. Supply chains are individually distinct from one another, even for those with products or services that may seem identical. No two (2) supply chains are alike; we could never build one that would be totally the same as another.
Because every supply chain is different, the project scope would entail developing one practically from scratch. As much as we could tap previous experiences with other seemingly similar supply chains, we’d be encountering and solving problems which would be exclusive to the project we’d be working on.
Building supply chains aren’t only about developing infrastructure or acquiring assets (e.g., ports, storage & handling facilities, transportation, factories, raw material sources); it’s also and more about putting in systems & structures for optimal operational performance.
To figure out what systems & structures we require, we would need to solve the problems stemming from the gaps between our present state and aspired future state of operations.
We develop a problem map that summarises opportunities & challenges we gleaned from our gap analysis. A problem map is a list of those fuzzy issues. (A problem map is not a problem tree nor is it a fishbone diagram, which are more of problem hierarchies which visualise possible root causes).
Fuzzy issues are our starting descriptions of problems we identify as adversities or challenges to the building of our supply chains. They are not yet the problems per se as we would need to clarify & refine the issues & their root causes.
A problem map such as in the figure above is a first-draft scope of what would be involved as we build systems & structures for our supply chains. It goes without saying that it could look quite intimidating.
Ellery's Essays 