A more resilient aftermarket supply chain A case study at Volvo Service Market Logistics

Abstract

Supply chain resilience has gathered significant attention in recent years due to escalating frequency and severity of disruptions affecting supply chains’ performances. Disruptive events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts, have highlighted the need for companies to establish more resilient supply chains. Despite increased awareness, many organizations, including the case company Volvo Service Market Logistics, are struggling to bridge the gap between awareness and implementations of resilience strategies. Thus, this thesis aims to map and evaluate the case company’s current resilience capabilities, identify areas for improvement and propose strategies that could strengthen the resilience further. In order to conduct this thesis and answer the set research questions, a qualitative research approach was utilized, including interviews, a workshop and a literature review. The study was initiated by an exploration within the field of supply chain disruption and resilience. Then an analysis follows, using a theoretical framework from literature as a starting point in order to map and evaluate the current resilience capabilities of the case company. Notable findings from the study include the case company’s strengths in terms of redundancy, facilitated by effective safety stock management, and cross-functional collaboration, by forming agile task forces during disruptions. In general, the case company possessed most of the capabilities found in the literature, and no significant gaps were identified. Nevertheless, opportunities for improvement still exist in several areas, including enhancing end-to-end visibility, developing a more mature Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process, and by introducing scenario planning, in order to become more resilient. The study concludes by emphasizing the wider applicability of the findings beyond the case company, by offering insights for other companies in the aftermarket as well as for organizations across industries. While the adopted resilience framework provides a structured approach, aftermarket entities might face unique challenges in establishing certain resilience capabilities due to the unpredictable demand characteristics. Nevertheless, the resilience capabilities proposed in literature are still essential to enable an organization to prepare for, respond to, as well as recover from disruptions and maintain operational excellence.