New Defence supply chain mapping tool unveiled at DPRTE

Homeland April 11, 2023

New innovative software that will map the Defence supply chain to identify risks and areas of fragility has been unveiled at DPRTE.

Developed with defence suppliers and industry partners the Supplier Management and Resilience Team (SM&RT) at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the procurement arm of the Ministry of Defence, has created a supply chain management system, the first of its kind in Defence.

Built by the team at DE&S, it imports data from a range of external sources, suppliers and internal information, providing a 360-degree view of the supply chain from the financial health of a supplier to its environmental and social governance (ESG).

The software maps the supply chain to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)through prime contractors. If risks are identified, action can be taken to support those vulnerable companies with a unique capability within the supply chain that cannot be delivered by other suppliers. It also provides information on where suppliers are based and to track the social, economic and environmental impact of projects.

David Carter, Director of Supply Chain Management at Raytheon UK, said: “Raytheon UK has worked collaboratively with the DE&S team to share knowledge of the tiers of the supply chain. By working together we have developed a more detailed picture than working individually. While the output is a ‘work in progress’, we remain committed to improving it over time. The tool provides a user-friendly way to jointly identify, assess and mitigate risk. Great progress has been made and, as more data is loaded into the tool, DE&S will also be able to assess the risks that span multiple programmes.”

The supply chain management system was unveiled by DE&S on Wednesday 29^th March at the Defence Procurement Research Technology at Exportability (DPRTE) event at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre.

DE&S DPRTE ESG Innovation Raytheon UK SM&RT SME software supply chain