Supply Chain Risk and Mitigation Plan PowerPoint: Three Risks, Action Plan, Voice of the Customer, KPIs and Lean Tools

Assignment: Supply chain risk and mitigation plan (PowerPoint)

Assume the role of a supply chain manager within an organization of your choice. Executive management has requested from you a presentation on supply chain risks associated with the organization and an action plan to mitigate those risks. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation to present your plan to the higher-level executives.

In your presentation:

• Identify three types of supply chain risks (one slide).
• Develop an action plan to mitigate the risks (two to three slides).
• Review how you will use technology to understand the voice of the customer (one to two slides).
• Define what type of performance measures you will use to monitor the risks or when the customer’s expectations change (one to two slides).
• Explain how the supply chain manager will use the basic lean tools and approaches to provide a quality product on time and at the lowest cost (two to three slides).

Original example for study purposes. The same content is in the downloadable PowerPoint.

Slide 1: Managing Supply Chain Risk at Harborline Home Appliances

Presentation to the Executive Leadership Team

On the slide:

• Prepared by: [Your Name], Supply Chain Manager
• [Course] | [Date]
• Harborline is a fictional mid-size U.S. maker of kitchen appliances that sources motors, control boards and steel from suppliers in Asia, Mexico and the U.S.

Speaker notes: Good morning. You asked for an overview of our biggest supply chain risks and a plan to manage them. In the next 15 minutes I will cover three risk types, a mitigation plan, how we will use technology to hear the voice of the customer, the measures we will track and how lean tools will help us deliver quality on time at the lowest cost.

Slide 2: Three Types of Supply Chain Risk

Where we are most exposed

On the slide:

• Supply risk: 70% of our control boards come from one supplier in one region; tariff changes, factory shutdowns or chip shortages could stop production.
• Logistics and disruption risk: ocean freight delays, port congestion, extreme weather and cyberattacks on carriers or our own systems can delay inbound parts and outbound orders.
• Demand risk: retailer orders swing with promotions, housing activity and interest rates, so forecasts miss and we end up with stockouts of popular models and excess inventory of others.

Speaker notes: Chopra and Sodhi (2004) remind us that risk comes in several categories and that each needs its own response; one-size-fits-all buffers are expensive. Our three biggest exposures are concentrated supply, fragile logistics and volatile demand. A board shortage, for example, would stop every assembly line within about two weeks [insert your own figure].

Slide 3: Action Plan (1 of 3): Reduce Supply Risk

Diversify and collaborate

On the slide:

• Map tier-1 and critical tier-2 suppliers and rank parts by revenue at risk.
• Qualify a second control-board supplier in Mexico within 9 months (nearshoring cuts lead time and tariff exposure).
• Hold strategic safety stock only for high-risk, long-lead parts (about 6 weeks of boards).
• Add risk clauses to contracts: capacity reservations, early-warning duties and business continuity plans.
• Quarterly supplier risk reviews using financial health and on-time scores.

Speaker notes: We will not add inventory everywhere. Instead, we target the few parts that could stop production. Dual sourcing costs more per unit, but it is cheaper than a shutdown. Christopher and Peck (2004) describe resilience as being built through supply chain re-engineering, collaboration, agility and a risk management culture, and this plan touches each one.

Slide 4: Action Plan (2 of 3): Reduce Logistics and Disruption Risk

Visibility and flexibility

On the slide:

• Real-time shipment tracking through a control tower dashboard.
• Approved alternate ports, carriers and modes (rail, truck from Mexico) with pre-negotiated rates.
• Cybersecurity requirements for logistics partners; multifactor authentication and offline backups for our ERP.
• Business continuity playbooks for top scenarios (port strike, hurricane, ransomware), tested twice a year.

Speaker notes: Simchi-Levi and colleagues (2014) recommend measuring time to recover, how long a node needs to return to full function, and planning for low-probability, high-impact events. Our playbooks will name owners, decision triggers and pre-approved alternatives so that we act in hours, not weeks.

Slide 5: Action Plan (3 of 3): Reduce Demand Risk

Plan together, respond faster

On the slide:

• Sales and operations planning (S&OP) meeting every month with sales, finance and operations.
• Collaborative forecasting with our three largest retailers using point-of-sale data.
• Postponement: build common platforms and add model-specific panels late, close to the order.
• Owner, budget and timeline: [names], [$ amount], phased over 12 months; progress reported quarterly to this team.

Speaker notes: Sharing point-of-sale data reduces the bullwhip effect, where small changes in consumer demand create large swings upstream. Postponement lets us keep fewer finished models in stock while still responding quickly.

Slide 6: Using Technology to Hear the Voice of the Customer (1 of 2)

Listening tools

On the slide:

• CRM and order data: which models, colors and delivery options customers choose.
• Surveys after delivery and service: Net Promoter Score and customer satisfaction.
• AI text analytics on product reviews, social media and call center transcripts to detect complaints early.
• Connected-appliance (IoT) data, with customer consent, showing usage and early failure signals.
• Warranty claims and returns data linked to supplier lots.

Speaker notes: The voice of the customer is not only what customers say in surveys; it is also what they do and what they complain about. Text analytics can flag a rising complaint, such as a noisy fan motor, weeks before warranty costs show it.

Slide 7: Using Technology to Hear the Voice of the Customer (2 of 2)

Turning insight into action

On the slide:

• A shared dashboard feeds customer insights into S&OP and supplier reviews.
• Quality function deployment: translate top customer needs (quiet, reliable, fast delivery) into design and supplier specifications.
• Example: reviews mention late deliveries in the Southwest; we shift inventory to a regional warehouse and offer delivery-date tracking.

Speaker notes: Technology is only valuable if insights reach the people who can act. Customer data will be a standing agenda item in planning and supplier meetings.

Slide 8: Performance Measures (1 of 2): Monitoring Risk

Early warning indicators

On the slide:

• Supplier on-time delivery and defect rate (parts per million).
• Supplier concentration: share of spend per critical part from a single source (target below 60%).
• Lead time and lead time variability for critical parts.
• Days of supply for high-risk parts; time to recover (TTR) versus time to survive (TTS) for critical nodes.
• Cyber readiness of key partners (assessment score).

Speaker notes: Each measure has a target and a trigger. For example, if a critical supplier's on-time rate falls below 90% for two months, we start the backup plan. If time to recover is longer than time to survive, that node is a priority for investment.

Slide 9: Performance Measures (2 of 2): When Customer Expectations Change

Customer-facing indicators

On the slide:

• On time in full (OTIF) and perfect order rate.
• Order fill rate and backorder age.
• Forecast accuracy and bias by model.
• Net Promoter Score, return rate and warranty claim rate.
• Total landed cost per unit, to keep resilience affordable.

Speaker notes: We will review these on a balanced scorecard every month. A drop in NPS or a rise in returns tells us expectations have changed even before sales fall.

Slide 10: Lean Tools for Quality, Speed and Cost (1 of 3)

Seeing and removing waste

On the slide:

• Value stream mapping: map the flow from supplier to customer and remove steps that add no value.
• Eliminate the eight wastes: defects, overproduction, waiting, unused talent, transportation, inventory, motion and extra processing.
• 5S workplace organization: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, sustain.

Speaker notes: Lean thinking starts by defining value from the customer's point of view and then removing everything else (Womack & Jones, 2003). Our first value stream map will focus on the control board flow, where we see the longest waiting times.

Slide 11: Lean Tools for Quality, Speed and Cost (2 of 3)

Flow and pull

On the slide:

• Kanban and pull systems: replenish parts based on actual use, not forecasts.
• Quick changeover (SMED): shorter setups allow smaller batches and faster response.
• Standard work and visual management boards on each line.
• Supplier kanban and vendor-managed inventory for stable, low-risk parts.

Speaker notes: Pull systems lower inventory and expose problems quickly. For high-risk parts we keep the strategic buffer from our action plan; lean and resilience must work together, not against each other.

Slide 12: Lean Tools for Quality, Speed and Cost (3 of 3)

Building quality in

On the slide:

• Poka-yoke (error-proofing) fixtures to prevent assembly mistakes.
• Jidoka: stop and fix problems at the source.
• Kaizen events and PDCA cycles led by frontline teams.
• Root-cause analysis (5 Whys, fishbone) on customer complaints and supplier defects.

Speaker notes: Quality built into the process is cheaper than inspection and warranty repairs. Every defect that reaches a customer is a cost, a return and a risk to our brand.

Slide 13: Summary and Next Steps

What we are asking for

On the slide:

• Approve the 12-month risk plan and budget of [$ amount].
• Name an executive sponsor and a cross-functional risk team.
• Launch dual sourcing, the control tower dashboard and monthly S&OP in the next quarter.
• Review the risk and customer scorecard with this team every quarter.

Speaker notes: With this plan, we expect fewer disruptions, faster recovery, better service and lower total cost. I welcome your questions.

Slide 14: References

Chopra, S., & Sodhi, M. S. (2004). Managing risk to avoid supply-chain breakdown. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(1), 53–61.

Christopher, M., & Peck, H. (2004). Building the resilient supply chain. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 15(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1108/09574090410700275

Simchi-Levi, D., Schmidt, W., & Wei, Y. (2014). From superstorms to factory fires: Managing unpredictable supply-chain disruptions. Harvard Business Review, 92(1–2), 96–101.

Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (2003). Lean thinking: Banish waste and create wealth in your corporation (Rev. ed.). Free Press.

More model assignments posted today

• SCS 224 journal: Haiti clean water study
• SCS 224 journal: gang violence research
• SCS 224 journal: uncontacted tribes of Brazil
• Accreditation and curriculum development
• Neurocognitive psychiatric evaluation
• Cloud, quantum and compliance cost proposal
• Concurrent access and data integrity
• Philosophical assumptions of science discussion