Field method
Business consulting for supply chain strategy, drawn as four layers
This page is the studio’s working sketch, not a certification syllabus. Programs exist so a team can rehearse it on their own map.
Layer one — geometry
We start with nodes that earn their keep: plants, DCs, cross-docks, packhouses, and customer gates that actually constrain time. Decorative “hubs” drawn to look national are stripped until a lane table can fund them. Australian linehaul hours are written on the line, not in an appendix.
Layer two — buffers
Stock, time, and capacity are three different buffers. Mixing them in one “safety” number is how a Toowoomba overflow becomes a supplier subsidy. The method insists on a service curve the CFO can see and a review period the planner can run.
Layer three — supplier joints
A second purchase order is not a second path if both orders die at the same mill, berth, or broker. We draw shared joints in a way procurement can take to a quarterly business review without theatre. Dual-sourcing theatre is expensive; dual-path geometry is slower to draw and cheaper in a bad month.
Layer four — sequenced disruption
Resilience is a timetable with owners. “Activate plan B” is not a time. The method writes the first twelve hours, the first week, and the kill-switch if the recovery date is fantasy. That script is what the Network Resilience Playbook spends most of its hours on.
What this method will not do
It will not choose your ERP. It will not sit in a tender evaluation as a scoring robot. It will not promise a percentage reduction in freight. If you need software selection, hire a different room. If you need a team that can argue about a map, start with a program or a Lane Audit enquiry.