7 Core Capacities Necessary for Supply Chain Resilience

Thursday, December 9, 2021
1:00 PM Eastern | 12:00 PM Central | 11:00 AM Mountain | 10:00 AM Pacific

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Making a supply chain resilient implicitly involves creating business continuity plans (BCPs) to ensure continued operations in the face of a supply chain disruption. These are plans to restore lost capacities, independent of HOW the operational capacities were lost.

The good news is that there are only seven ways in which a supply chain can fail. Each failure (also known as failure mode) involves the loss of at least one of the core capacities listed.

• The capacity to acquire materials (maintain supply).
• The capacity to ship and/or transport products.
• The capacity to communicate.
• The capacity to convert (internal manufacturing operations).
• The human resources (personnel) capacity.
• The capacity to maintain financial flows.
• The capacity to distribute products to customers including consumers.

Regardless of how the capacity was lost (due to natural disaster, industrial accident, infrastructure failure, for example), the outcome is predictable – capacity loss.

About the Presenter:

James B. Rice, Jr.
Deputy Director – Center for Transportation and Logistics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jim Rice joined the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics in 1995 and was appointed as the Deputy Director of CTL in 2007. In this capacity he oversees all industrial outreach programs and serves as the Director of the Supply Chain Exchange, including marketing and communication for CTL, and runs CTL’s Executive Education Programs.

His primary research has been focused on a broad range of study and contributions on resilience and risk management related topics – supply chain resilience, port resilience and supply chain security. In addition to studying resilience and risk management, Jim studies supply chain innovation and has helped identify key success factors and methods for pursuing and achieving innovation in the supply chain.

Outside of research and the Supply Chain Exchange, Jim teaches in the graduate degree program (Supply Chain Financial Analysis courses), in the online SC2x course, in CTL’s executive education programs and in the MIT SCALE Network. His teaching includes case instruction on supply chain design for strategic advantage, supply chain financial analysis, and workshops and simulations focused on strategic alignment, business continuity planning supply chain dynamics and supply chain strategy.

His written work includes contributions to books, working papers and recently published authored and co-authored articles, a list of which can be furnished on request. In 2013 Jim was selected as one of DC Velocity’s 2013 Rainmakers.

In addition to his role at MIT, Jim has served the community via several supply chain-related Boards, Committees and Appointments, including:
• Visiting Faculty Member, Politecnico di Milano MBA School (MIP), 2006-Present
• The Editorial Board – Supply Chain Management Review, 1998 – Present
• The Editorial Board – Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 2001 – Present

Prior to joining MIT, Jim managed manufacturing and distribution operations at Procter & Gamble, and served as a sales and market manager at General Electric Company. Jim earned his MBA in Operations and Finance from the Harvard Business School, and a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.