Creative Thinking: New Solutions to Tackle Modern Supply Chain Crises

Three recommended frameworks for addressing these challenges are maneuver warfare tactics, design thinking, and the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). This article explores each framework and its application in supply chains.

“Think Like a Marine”: Maneuver Warfare Tactics

Framework: Maneuver warfare is a strategy that optimizes flexibility and leverages chaos as an advantage, rather than relying solely on overwhelming firepower or large numbers. The U.S. Marine Corps developed this tactic to maintain effective combat capabilities despite limited resources.

Application in Supply Chains: Organizations often face resource constraints and major obstacles, similar to attrition warfare in the military, where efforts are made to add resources without breakthrough strategies. By applying maneuver warfare tactics, supply chain managers can "break through" by seeking creative solutions instead of repeating conventional tactics.

Case Study: To address port congestion and rising freight costs, Coca-Cola chose to charter three smaller ships to transport 60,000 tons of materials, keeping its supply chain moving even while larger ports remained overloaded. This approach mirrors how the U.S. Marine Corps deploys small, agile units to penetrate deep into enemy territory. Other companies, like Target, also chartered their own vessels to avoid delays, save costs, and ensure timely deliveries.

Learning from Failure to Achieve Success: Maneuver warfare encourages taking risks and learning from failures, as this approach drives creativity and helps identify optimal solutions. Organizations willing to experiment and adjust their methods, rather than persisting with outdated approaches, are more likely to discover breakthrough solutions.

Think Like a Customer: Design Thinking

Framework: Design thinking is a human-centered, solution-focused approach, particularly effective for complex or ambiguous problems. It follows a process of empathizing with customers, defining the problem, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing. This model emphasizes "failing fast and learning fast" to minimize risk and refine solutions.

Application in Supply Chains: Rather than using an "if we build it, they will come" mindset, design thinking advocates for addressing issues based on actual customer needs. This approach is particularly valuable in supplier relationships. Rather than using buying power to impose demands, design thinking fosters collaboration, helping all parties work toward shared goals.

“Walking the Supply Chain” to Build Empathy: Supply chain expert Ron Volpe emphasizes the importance of “walking the supply chain” from manufacturing to stores to fully understand each product's journey. Through interviews at each stage, organizations can develop a customer journey map to accurately identify bottlenecks and pain points from the customer’s perspective.

Breaking Down Silos for Innovation: The ideation, prototyping, and testing stages of design thinking require close collaboration, encouraging diverse perspectives from various parts of the organization. For example, Microsoft gathered numerous innovative ideas by inviting employees across the company to participate in the solution-finding process. When cross-functional teams collaborate, internal barriers are broken down, allowing for new, creative viewpoints.

Think Like an Inventor: Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ)

Framework: TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, is a systematic approach that frames problems as contradictions to provide innovative solutions. Developed by Genrich Altshuller, TRIZ analyzes and systematizes 40 inventive principles based on over 200,000 patents.

Application in Supply Chains: TRIZ encourages organizations to analyze problems by framing them as contradictions. For example, a product may need to be high quality without raising costs, or fast shipping may be necessary without increasing expenses. TRIZ principles guide organizations in finding the most suitable creative solutions for each scenario.

Example of a TRIZ Solution in Supply Chains: Maria Stoletova used TRIZ to solve the issue of higher transportation costs for a low-cost supplier located far from the organization. Feasible solutions included sharing transportation costs with other companies in the same area, incorporating transportation costs into the product’s price, or selecting a supplier with the potential to be a strategic partner, even if their base price is higher.

Technology Tools to Support Creative Thinking: Idea management software such as the 40IP app makes it easier to apply TRIZ by automatically generating solutions based on entered contradictions. In addition to TRIZ, platforms like Innovation Workbench draw from over 400 invention patterns to help users develop creative solutions for complex challenges.

Conclusion

These three frameworks not only open up new methods of creative problem-solving for supply chain challenges but also help organizations explore new opportunities, enabling resilience in uncertain times. Maneuver warfare tactics allow organizations to respond quickly, while design thinking ensures that solutions are developed from real customer needs. Finally, TRIZ provides systematic tools and principles for overcoming tough contradictions.

In an era of ever-evolving supply chain dynamics, flexibility and creativity have become essential for survival. Organizations willing to break free from ingrained ways of thinking, experiment, and embrace risk in the innovation process are better positioned to not only overcome challenges but also find new paths, transforming obstacles into opportunities for growth.

By Van Tam