Professor Jan Godsell, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at WMG, has contributed to a term paper produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG). The paper has been launched today at an APMG event, led by the APMG’s Co-Chair, Chris White MP.

The APMG’s latest term paper, ‘New World Supply Chains: Britain at the Heart of Global Manufacturing’, seeks to address certain issues experienced by manufacturers and investigates the UK’s efforts to reshore manufacturing. The APMG has identified growing evidence that production is increasingly being ‘reshored’ back to the UK and, as the government attempts to encourage this positive trend through ‘Reshore UK’ and other mechanisms, the importance of well-functioning supply chains is becoming ever-more apparent.

Professor Godsell attended the paper’s launch today to contribution to the discussion on the topic. Her contribution to the term paper focused on ‘Putting the UK back at the heart of the Global Supply Chain Network’.

Professor Godsell commented:

Supply chains in the UK have been often misunderstood and neglected but are brimming with potential; the UK is part of a network of global supply chains. To operate effectively in this network, the UK first needs to recognise its place in this network, and then identify the most value-adding ways to contribute.

"The launch of the term paper today seeks to fuel this debate, by helping to provide clarity about what the supply chain is, its importance and the challenges and opportunities it presents.”

In her piece for the term paper, Professor Godsell argues that maintaining a narrow perspective on supply chains, focused on procurement or supplier management, is damaging to success; supply chains need to be understood in a holistic context bringing together planning, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and sales. She goes on to conclude that, as we emerge from the global financial crisis, the time is right to re-visit how industry can most effectively operate within the global network to maximise value for the UK. Professor Godsell suggests a number of critical ways in which the UK needs to reconsider its view on supply chains.

Download a copy of the APMG’s newly launched term paper at their website.

More about Supply Chain Research at WMG.