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Mapping major supply chains within the Scottish food and drink industry

Mapping major supply chains within the Scottish food and drink industry

  • Food & Drink Improvements
  • 2022-2027
Sustainable Development icon: decent work and economic growth
Sustainable Development icon: industry, innovation and infrastructure
Sustainable Development icon: responsible consumption and production

Challenges

Value chain analysis focuses on the dynamics of complex linkages within a network. Both value creation and value capture occur in a system that includes suppliers, distributors, partners, and collaborators, thus extending a business’ access to resources and opportunities.

The starting point of the value chain analysis requires the “mapping of the market” to track and analyse the contribution of the different chain actors and the relationships among themselves. An understanding of the interactions within a value chain helps identify the factors that influence the chain performance. The resulting market map defines the value chain actors, the enabling environment, and the service providers.

Supply chain mapping allows businesses to put strategies in place to rapidly react when a supplier faces a shortage, an order gets lost in the system, if there is a surge in demand or if something even more unexpected happens. It can also facilitate a deeper understanding of the surrounding costs, timeframes, and risks providing competitive advantages.

The Scottish Government is committed to growing Scotland's food and drink industry and bringing benefits to the nation in terms of jobs, wealth, and international renown. There are significant challenges because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK’s EU-exit. There is a need to better understand major Scottish supply chains and to use this knowledge to increase the value created by the chains for benefits to be distributed equitably.

The key policy drivers of this project are:

  • Good Food Nation policy: aiming at ensuring food companies are a thriving feature of the economy and places where people want to work
  • Scottish Government plans: supporting the food and drink industry
  • Scottish Government plans: promoting sustainable production and procurement as it wants domestic produce that is increasingly healthy and environmentally sound
  • Ambition 2030: Industry Strategy for Growth: A challenge for the industry is that success and growth must translate into greater profitability at the farmgate and on the fishing boat
  • EU Exit: understanding to what extent the UK leaving the EU has affected the Scottish supply chains

Questions

  • Which supply chains are important for the Scottish Food and Drink industry and where are the opportunities to add or recapture value?

Solutions

This project is mapping major food supply chains both within Scotland and those where Scottish industries are heavily involved to improve the understanding in the way they operate. To achieve this aim, we propose a methodology to be able to update changes in the maps, a modelled analysis of individual sectors that demonstrates where value is created, added, and lost during the supply chain, and to use the modelled analysis to simulate various scenarios whereby the value in the supply chain could be increased and distributed in Scotland among producers and processors.

 

A new methodology for mapping supply chains

We are conducting a literature review and using these insights to develop a methodology to produce updated maps of supply chains in Scotland.

 

Mapping Scottish food supply chains

Using this methodology, we are mapping selected food supply chains both within Scotland and those where Scottish industries are heavily involved. The maps identify

  • The transformation of products from raw materials along the chains
  • Modelling the value added along the selected chains
  • Identify bottlenecks and where value opportunities are missed

Overall, this project is better understanding the food supply chains and identifying ways to increase the value-added of the chains. The analysis helps to identify sources of innovation, such as possibilities for product development, new or improved processes or technologies to increase efficiency, profitability, and sustainability of the supply chain.

Previous Projects 

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