Objectives and perspectives for improving resiliency in Supply Chains ENRICO BRIANO CLAUDIA CABALLINI PIETRO GIRIBONE ROBERTO REVETRIA CIELI – Italian Centre of Excellence in Integrated Logistics Diptem-Department of Production Engineering, Thermo-Energetic and Mathematical Models University of Genoa ITALY enrico.briano@dipconsortium.org ; claudia.caballini@cieli.unige.it ; roberto.revetria@unige.it Abstract: - This paper aims at providing the key aspects regarding vulnerability of supply chains and the way to make them more resilient. After having identified the most common threats affecting supply chains integrity, the success factors to build a resilient supply chain are provided. For instance, in the fashion goods context, particular phenomena cause unpredictable behaviours in the demand, so generating vulnerability in the relative supply chain. A KPIs methodology for studying the behaviour of these supply chains under these phenomena is proposed. This research represents the basis for a future work that will end up with the elaboration of a System Dynamics model able to reproduce the most significant dynamics of short life cycle products, such as electronic devices, with the goal of providing innovative solutions to make this kind of supply chains more resilient. Key-Words: - Vulnerability, Resiliency, Risk Management, Supply Chain, KPIs, Fashion goods. 1 Introduction Interruptions in ports, customs and transportation delays or capacity constraints are only some of the problems, at a global level, that companies must face every day. Moreover, in the last decade, catastrophic events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11 in 2001, the Katrina hurricane or the Middle East wars sensibly modified the concept of preparation to disasters. So, in the current uncertain and turbulent markets, supply chain’s vulnerability has become a particularly important issue for many companies. Threats to the supply chain have been deeply increased by long and global supply chains, products with increasingly reduced life cycles and volatile and unpredictable markets. Unfortunately it does not exist a safe way to overcome these risks, but some organizations overcome better than others not quantifiable risks and disasters; they share a critic characteristic: the resilience. The actual challenge for current companies is therefore to manage and mitigate these risks through the creation of more resilient supply chains, able to opportunely and efficaciously face unexpected events. In material science, resilience represents the ability of a material to reacquire its original shape after a deformation while, in the business sector, resilience refers to the ability of a company to resist to a serious damaging event. A company ability to come back to its business after a catastrophe depends more on the decisions and actions that it carries out before the shock occurrence rather than on those that it puts into place after or during the event is occurring. Moreover the resilience concept not only affects the company level but the whole supply chain, since a company can be damaged not only when one plant is concerned, but also if a crucial supplier cannot supply materials or if a big customer goes bankrupt. Finally, supply chain’s resilience does not simply imply the ability to manage risks, but also to be better placed in respect to competitors towards the management of the damage – and even to take advantage from it. 2. Supply chain vulnerability WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on SYSTEMS Enrico Briano, Claudia Caballini, Pietro Giribone, Roberto Revetria ISSN: 1109-2777 136 Issue 2, Volume 9, February 2010