Building a SECURE

A re you gambling with your supply network? As we look back on supply chain management pre-Sept. 11, 2001, it's fair to say that many companies were indeed unwittingly gambling. Sadly, it took the terrorist attacks and subsequent reactions to expose a cold reality: The supply network is inherently vulnerable to disruption, and the failure of any one element in it could cause the whole network to fail. Further, the attacks dramatically illustrated the interdependence that exists in the supply network—not just among the trading partners but also with the U.S. government agencies involved in the flow of goods and the transportation infrastructure. This new operating environment calls for a supply network design that is both secure and resilient. That means a supply network that has advanced security processes and procedures in place, while at the same time being resilient enough to respond to unexpected disruptions and James B. Rice, Jr. is director of the Integrated Supply Chain Management program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Federico Caniato, a doctoral candidate at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, was recently a visiting student at MIT.