If A Tree Falls In The Forest And There Is No One There To Hear It . . .

Your 'umble correspondent's latest Basic Training column in DC Velocity took on the outmoded concept that one size fits all in defining a supply chain and Its structure.  Truth to tell, our standard view of what a supply chain looks like is a quick rip-off of last generation's  CPG structure, and it has been the standard that we have taught to, and used to illustrate concepts, for a couple of generations.

It is over-simplified and over-used, and is no longer an adequate model.  Penn State's Assistant Professor, Jason Acimovic has taken the notion a significant step farther.  He defines the standard view as archaic, ineffective, and more wrong with each passing day in a multi-channel universe which encourages omni-channel technology applications in  B2B as well as B2C commerce.

His thought-provoking name for the "in the day" structure is arborescent, sometimes arboreal, to indicate a traditional pyramidal brick-and-mortar network of distribution facilities.  Newer structures, which aren't actually all that new, are: robust, asymetrical, flexible, and constantly evolving as technology and processes insert themselves into supply chain plannning and execution.

Maybe we should re-direct the focus of the traditional Arbor Day observance to recognize the diminuation of arborescent supply chains, and the need for creative thinking about challenges, solutions, and game-changers in supply chain management.

I am not sure what the opposiite of arborescent might be.  Maybe" briar patch" to illustrate the snags inherent in less structured, even uncomfortable, supply chain environments.  We'll have to ask Bre'r Rabbit about that.  Meanwhile, I'll not be looking at arboreal networks in nearly the same old way.