Track: Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Infants undergo rapid development in the initial two years, which underscores the importance of proper and adequate nutrition. This emphasizes the importance of the quality and availability of Infant Formula Milk (IFM), which plays a vital role as it is crucial for infants' growth and development especially when there is an absence of mother's milk. Over the last decade, the IFM supply chain has faced various risks and disruptions all over the globe. These disruptions vary in origin, magnitude, and impact on the product and the supply chain continuity. In this research, we provide a general framework for leveraging the resilience of IFM supply chain. The framework begins by analyzing different stages and processes of the IFM supply chain starting from the cultivation product development phase until the IFM product reaches retailer stores. After that, through adapting the Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) application to the supply chain, the possible risks were detected. The risks were categorized to prioritize critical ones, enabling the formulation of a general contingency plan to leverage the resilience of the IFM supply chain. K means ++ and K clustering algorithms were used to cluster the risks based on severity, using eight attributes that are cost, product availability/quantity, lead times, health impact, probability of occurrence, risk velocity, risk detectability, and risk persistence. These attributes were evaluated for each risk based on the experience of the team, where as a result the most critical 17 risks were identified and targeted to mitigate their possible negative effect. The mitigation plan was built from a general subset of proactive and reactive measures that target critical risks using both standard mitigation practices and innovative practices involving the use of industry 4.0 technologies. As a result, the IFM supply chain can be more resilient toward unexpected disruptions.