Hire a supply chain strategy consultant when the question is where to make, source, store and ship, and the answer will move capital for years. Network redesigns, dual-sourcing decisions and make-or-buy calls fit. Skip it when the problem is a late shipment, a planning tool or a warehouse layout. Those need an operator or a specialist, not a strategist.
Expect a model of your network, cost and service tradeoffs for each option, and a plan to move from today to the chosen design. Your operations leaders still own the choice and the execution.
What they do
A supply chain strategy consultant decides with you what the network should look like, then works out how to get there.
Diagnose. They map flows from supplier to customer, cost each step, and measure service against targets. A common reference is the SCOR Digital Standard, an open-access framework from the Association for Supply Chain Management. It splits supply chain work into 7 processes: Orchestrate, Plan, Order, Source, Transform, Fulfill and Return.
Design. They model alternative networks: plant and warehouse locations, single or dual sourcing, nearshoring, inventory positions, make or buy. Each option gets a total cost, a service level and a risk profile. Unit price alone leaves out freight, duties, inventory carrying cost and disruption risk.
Plan the move. They sequence the changes, size the investment, and set the metrics that show whether the new design works.
What they do not do. They do not run your plants or carriers. Ask separately whether they implement planning software, and how they are paid for it.
When to hire, and when not to
Hire when
- You are deciding whether to move production or sourcing to another country, and the choice will commit capital and supplier contracts for years.
- A single supplier or region accounts for a share of a critical input that would stop production if it failed.
- An acquisition has left you with 2 overlapping networks of plants and warehouses.
- Service levels are falling while inventory rises, and no one can say which part of the network causes it.
- The board wants a resilience plan with costed options, not a list of risks.
Skip it when
- The problem is execution: late orders, poor forecast accuracy, a badly run warehouse. Fix it with operations leadership or a specialist in that function.
- You have already chosen a planning or ERP system and need it installed. Hire the implementer.
- You only want your metrics compared with peers. The Association for Supply Chain Management includes a SCORmark benchmark evaluation in its 2 highest corporate membership levels.
- Nobody in operations will own the result.
How engagements are set up
Diagnostic
A short, fixed-scope review of cost, service and risk across the current network. Ends with a fact base and a list of options worth modeling. Fits companies that suspect a problem but cannot yet name it.
Network design project
Builds a model of the network and compares scenarios on total cost, service and risk. Ends with a recommended design and a business case. Ask for a fixed fee per phase.
Sourcing or footprint decision
Answers one question, such as nearshore or stay, single or dual source, make or buy. Narrower and shorter than a full network design.
Transformation support
The consultant stays on through the move, running a program office and tracking savings and service against the business case. Fits companies without a transformation office of their own.
Independent or fractional advisor
One experienced operator advises the head of supply chain for a few days a month. Fits mid-market companies that need judgment more than a modeling team.
What it costs
In a 2025 survey of consultants, 36% priced by project, 26% by value and 23% by the hour, and 88% did not list fees on their websites.
Ask for a fixed fee per phase on diagnostic and design work. Ask what the fee covers: data cleaning, modeling software licenses and site visits can be billed on top. For transformation support, ask for the rate per named person. Agree in writing who owns the network model when the work ends.
Before you talk to firms
- Shipment, order and inventory data by site and product for at least a full year, with known gaps flagged.
- Your current cost to serve, even a rough one, and the service targets customers hold you to.
- A list of single-source or single-region inputs, and what happens if each one stops.
- The decision you need to make, the date it must be made by, and the capital you can commit.
- A named operations owner who will carry the design into execution.
Questions to ask in the pitch meeting
- Which network design or footprint decisions have you made in our industry in the last 3 years, and can I speak to the client on 2 of them?
- Who will build the model, and will we get the model file and the logic behind it when you leave?
- How do you calculate total cost of ownership for a sourcing option, and which costs do you include beyond unit price?
- How will you put a number on disruption risk when you compare options?
- How much of our data do you need, how clean must it be, and who does the cleaning?
- Which options would you rule out before modeling, and why?
- Do you resell or receive referral fees from any software, logistics or real estate provider you might recommend?
- What does the plan to move from today's network to the new one look like, and how long did it take for past clients?
- Which metrics will show us in 12 months that the new design is working?
Warning signs
- They recommend a planning or visibility platform before they have looked at your network.
- Options are compared on unit price or labor cost alone, without freight, duties, inventory or risk.
- The answer is "bring everything home" or "move everything to one low-cost country" before the analysis. The OECD estimates that broad relocalization policies could cut global trade by over 18% without consistently improving resilience.
- They will not hand over the model, only the slides.
- The team that pitched has run strategy work but never a plant, a warehouse or a sourcing function.
- They have a commercial tie to a vendor they recommend and do not disclose it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SCOR model, and do we need a consultant to use it?
SCOR is a supply chain reference framework from the Association for Supply Chain Management. The current version, the SCOR Digital Standard, covers 7 processes: Orchestrate, Plan, Order, Source, Transform, Fulfill and Return. It is open access under a Creative Commons license, and ASCM offers a free introductory course. You do not need a consultant to use it. A consultant helps when you want it applied to a live decision.
Should we reshore or nearshore production?
Compare total cost of ownership, not unit price: freight, duties, inventory carrying cost, quality and disruption risk all belong in the number. The OECD's 2025 Supply Chain Resilience Review found that broad relocalization could cut global real GDP by more than 5% without consistently improving resilience.
How long does a network design project take?
Clean shipment and cost data shortens the work. Missing or inconsistent data delays modeling. Ask each firm how long data collection took on its last 3 projects and what the client team had to supply. Agree the decision date first and plan the phases back from it.
Is supply chain concentration really getting worse?
The OECD found that the number of products sourced from a limited range of suppliers was 50% higher in the early 2020s than in the late 1990s. Almost all of that rise came from non-OECD countries. Import concentration in OECD countries stayed stable. Check your own bill of materials. Your exposure is specific to your inputs.
Should the same firm design the network and implement the software?
Separate the decisions. A firm that earns most of its fees from implementation has a reason to find a software answer. Ask how the firm is paid on the implementation work, and whether it receives fees from software vendors. Decide the network design first, then choose the tools that support it.
Sources
- OECD, Co-ordinated efforts needed to strengthen and diversify supply chains in response to elevated risks (press release, June 2025)
- Association for Supply Chain Management, The SCOR Digital Standard (SCOR DS)
- Supply & Demand Chain Executive, ASCM releases new SCOR Digital Standard (2022)
- Reshoring Initiative, Total Cost of Ownership Estimator
- Consulting statistics: pricing models and fees (updated 2025)
Written by Stratrix editors from public sources and checked claim by claim by a second AI model. Firms pay Stratrix when they accept an introduction; they do not pay to influence this guide, and it names none of them. How introductions work