Supply Chain Resilience

Behind many of the products and services we use every day, ranging from the food we buy in the supermarket to our medicines or the spare parts we need for our car, there is a supply chain. One small failure in the supply chain can have detrimental results for business and, in some cases, the general public.

Commissioned by Her Majesty's Government, Cranfield University business school has undertaken substantial research both on the vulnerability of supply chains and on how to make them more resilient. Their report on supply chain resilience was published, in full, in May 2003 and identified a number of ways in which companies could take steps to make their supply chains more secure. Cranfield have subsequently published a businessman's guide to supply chain resilience and a workbook and toolkit suitable for use by a wide range of businesses.

The businessman's guide, the toolkit and the workbook will help industry to become more aware of the risks that their business or service is already exposed to, and to plan accordingly. Industry is the principal customer for Cranfield's dissemination effort, but it is also aimed at management consultants and business schools who can use the techniques to provide commercial services to clients.

Electronic copies of this report and the accompanying workbook can be obtained from: www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/scr

Printed copies and CD ROM's of the businessman's guide and workbook are available from the Department for Transport's publications distribution centre at: DFT Publications, PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7NB

Tel: 0870 1226 236; Fax: 0870 1226 237; Textphone: 0870 120 7405

E-mail: dft@twoten.press.net