You dual-sourced. Both suppliers buy from the same plant.

Two approved suppliers only halve your risk if they fail independently, and in most categories, nobody has ever checked whether they do.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for You dual-sourced. Both suppliers buy from the same plant.

Dual sourcing is one of the few resilience measures that survives a budget review. It is easy to explain, easy to audit, and it produces a satisfying line in the risk register: two approved suppliers, therefore no single point of failure. The trouble is that the whole benefit rests on an assumption almost nobody tests: that the two suppliers fail for different reasons, at different times. When that assumption holds, dual sourcing is extraordinarily powerful. When it does not, it is an expensive way to buy the same exposure twice,…

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