Supply chain immune system: concept,framework, and applications

Behind every product and service is a supply chain. These supply chains are extremely complex and vulnerable to multifarious risks that threaten their performance and stability, ranging from simple machine or truck breakdowns to catastrophic natural disasters. This paper presents a novel framework for supply chain risk management based on the analogy of the biological immune system, which has multiple layers of increasing sophistication to neutralise a variety of risks. The various layers include: physical barriers, innate response, and adaptive response. The working of the framework is explained with an illustrative semiconductor supply chain. Applications of this framework include short-term disruption response and long-term immunisation, providing planner and manager level insights respectively.