27 July 2022

University of Sheffield and Rolls-Royce collaborate to improve manufacturing supply chain resilience

Project will help industry and government compare supply chains at facility-level.

© Miltiadis Fragkidis/Unsplash

A new project launched in collaboration between the University of Sheffield and Rolls-Royce aims to help industry and government track and compare facility-level supply chain resilience.

Project FPSCRS (Future Proof Supply Chain Resilience and Security), funded and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Rolls-Royce, will establish a resilience index scorecard system, hosted via a secure online tool, to provide a quantitative scale of resilience measurement and capture qualitative insights.

The tool, co-developed by Rolls-Royce and researchers from the Management School at the University’s Faculty of Social Science, enables high-value manufacturing industries such as civil aerospace, automotive, and rail to benchmark their supply chain resilience, and manage and respond to risk and security issues.

Created with input from industry leaders, the tool will allow the government and advanced manufacturing industry to measure and reduce uncertainty and risk, minimise vulnerability and threat, and improve supply chain security and resilience.

A policy brief will be generated in consultation with key partners and stakeholders in the supply chain and within government departments for green economy recovery post COVID-19, focusing on supply chain resilience and security.

Professor Lenny Koh, Director of AREC and Co-Head of Energy Institute, and academic lead of FPSCRS, said, “Through this co-creation with Rolls-Royce, Project FPSCRS advances the understanding of supply chain resilience and security in advanced manufacturing industry. Novel measures and models will be developed, along with the tool and policy brief, using multiple methodologies. This research will help solve the pressing challenges of disruptions via improved risk mitigation and business continuity.”