Fujitsu Limited How to prepare for the unpredictable: Supply Chain Risk Visualization service

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Preparing for supply chain disruptions in the event of a disaster is essential in today’s business world. Particularly in the face of climate change and events such as the coronavirus pandemic which added complexity to the challenge as factories had to lock down.

Fujitsu senior manager Seiji Tanaka was in charge of the supply chain for network-related products when the pandemic hit.

“What we realized at that time was that we did not have the full picture of our own supplier network, such as which supplier makes which of our components in which factory,” Tanaka says. He says about 300 companies directly supply parts to the network products he was in charge of and more companies comprise secondary and tertiary tiers upstream.

During the pandemic, if a company in the upstream tiers was affected by the virus and suspended its operations, the rest of the line leading to Fujitsu was also affected.

“We learned that we need to look at the whole picture, including the upstream of the line. Otherwise, we can’t fully assess the impact of the disaster, such as how long the delays would be.”

Tanaka realized he needed a system that could bring together the data tied to each component he procured. So, in 2022, he launched the Resilient Supply Chain (RSC) portal system to integrate data about suppliers’ facilities. One of the data points he wanted to list was the number assigned to each part, called the manufacturer part number.

“The RSC system helped us quickly narrow down a component affected by a disaster,” Tanaka says. “It helped us assess the overall damage much faster. The system also freed our suppliers from time-consuming reporting.”