Purpose: When faced with severe crises or war, Swedish authorities need to adaptively secure supply of critical components for their operations. They are in this dependent on industry’s production system and supply chain (SC) network. When critical shortages occur, alternatives need to be investigated and developed quickly. This paper aims to present a methodology and way of work to review SC alternatives and developing solutions when an acute shortage is at hand. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents action-research based work, performed within a project developing resilient SC-management. An iterative scenario workshop approach was applied to develop and test the methodology. The workshops were performed in a simulated crisis-situation setting. Participating authorities oversaw infrastructural functions and a simulated component shortage, while a cross functional team of researchers and experts applied the methods to find solutions to the situation. The workshop goal was to find and develop several parallel solutions to each shortage situation. Between workshops, literature search, discussion and trials with practitioners, and cross functional process development was done. Findings: The findings resulted in a guideline for the process from identifying a need to initiating parallel solutions to resolve a shortage. Available materials, production techniques, and critical product-specific characteristics were identified and investigated within the workshops. The solutions were based on four main redesign concepts: •Re-sourcing/Sourcing of equivalent product(s) •Reuse via washing/repair/recycling •Reverse engineering - copying existing product •Product development - developing a new product Research limitations: The conducted workshops were designed with predefined specific conditions, such as national localization for solution application, logistical challenges, and import restrictions. Practical, managerial and societal implications: The research was part of a larger research project where the aim was to support Swedish authorities in their development of resilience and security of supply. Both practical results and methodological development of how to perform supply chain scenario workshop simulations will be used by authorities. Original/value: There exist several studies on how to proactively redesign supply chains to be more resilient, but less papers focus on how to redesign the supply when shortage occurs in crisis situations. This paper contributes with empirical research on such situations. Keywords: Emergency supply, Scenario workshop simulation, Action research, Supply chain resiliens
This study was funded by The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and part of the projects Supply preparedness and resilient production of critical components (“Försörjningsberedskap och resilient produktion av kritiska komponenter” in Swedish) (MSB 2022-12444) and Resilient material and product supply in case of crisis and conflict (“Resilient material- och produktförsörjning i händelse av kris och konflikt” in Swedish) (MSB 2022-09211).