Finding the optimal supply chain can be highly complex. Failure to find the perfect supply chain parameters will result in ineffective plans which will propagate across the network, regardless of the planning software. Why is this? It happens because finding the right configuration – even in relatively simple supply chains – is extremely difficult to achieve. There are just too many combinations. In addition, real-world supply chains are often global making the task exponentially more complicated. Even for experienced planners this is an insurmountable challenge.
As a result, many supply chains are set up and planned in a suboptimal way resulting in a combination of issues such as: