From Fixed to Fluid: How Dynamic Network Design is Transforming Global Supply Chains

The era of “set it and forget it” supply chain networks is over.

As disruptions become the norm rather than the exception, leading organizations are abandoning traditional, static network planning in favor of a revolutionary approach: dynamic network flexibility (also known as dynamic network design).

The numbers tell a stark story. Supply chain disruptions cost companies approximately 6-10% of their annual revenue, with 76% of European shippers experiencing significant disruptions throughout 2024, according to Maersk. Average delivery times remain 25% longer than pre-pandemic levels, and a staggering 79% of Chief Procurement Officers cite poor visibility as their biggest barrier to effective disruption management.

Yet amid this chaos, some companies are thriving. At Freightos’ recent Stable Chaos: A Digital Supply Chain Summit, Vincent Cam, Supply Chain Manager for Americas, Europe, and Africa at SLB (formerly Schlumberger), shared how his organization transformed from traditional network design to a dynamic approach that’s reviewed every six months—a radical departure from industry norms that’s delivering measurable results.

The Old Playbook No Longer Works

Five years ago, SLB’s approach to network design mirrored that of most large organizations: project-based, consultant-driven initiatives focused on long-term, fixed infrastructure decisions. “We were thinking about it. It looked kind of cool. We had some consultants who coined the term for us,” Cam recalled. The focus was on greenfield projects and on establishing distribution centers using traditional total-cost-of-ownership models.

This approach made sense in a more stable world. But as Cam explained, the oil and gas industry—and indeed, most sectors—has undergone fundamental shifts. “There were days when we had margins to do charters, and have inventory… and we relied less on logistics. Over time, with lower margins, we had to optimize our inventory, optimize our fleet of assets.”

The result: A business environment where activities fluctuate significantly across countries, geopolitical tensions reshape trade routes monthly, and what seemed like a sound five-year plan becomes obsolete within months.

The Six-Month Revolution

Today, SLB operates at a completely different cadence. What was once an occasional project has evolved into a dedicated function with six full-time network design professionals conducting approximately 50 projects annually. Most significantly, the team now models the entire network every six months, integrating closely with Sales and Operations Planning (SNOP) cycles.

The scale is impressive: approximately 5,000 international lanes spanning both air and ocean freight, 1,700 commodities ranging from massive chemical shipments to precision O-rings, 1,000 warehouses across roughly 100 countries, and billions in logistics spend.

This frequency of network reassessment would have been unthinkable—and prohibitively expensive—in the traditional model. But Cam emphasizes that dynamic network design isn’t about creating perfect, comprehensive models. “I probably won’t have an extensive network built, like I would do in the past, but I will have something which is smaller, with some assumptions, which will give input into our decisions,” he explained.

The approach reflects broader industry trends. A 2024 Deloitte study found that 86% of businesses had taken steps to reduce supply chain risk over the preceding two years, with flexibility emerging as the critical capability. Organizations are shifting away from rigid inventory buffers—reliance has dropped from 59% to 34%—in favor of more agile, responsive networks.

People Over Technology

When asked what single change moved the needle most over the past five years, Cam’s answer was unequivocal: People.

“Having the right people and, you know, that can go with the business, with operations, understanding what’s happening, and being able to kind of compile this into a model… find the right assumption is critical,” he said. “That translation of business requirement into a digital model is extremely important”.

This insight challenges the common assumption that network transformation is primarily a technology play. While SLB uses advanced tools like Supply Chain Guru (now rebranded under LLamasoft), Cam emphasized that the software is simply “the calculator” and “the engine.” The real value comes from modelers who can bridge the gap between business reality and mathematical optimization.

Beyond technical modeling skills, Cam highlighted the importance of internal salesmanship. “Having people that can sell this internally… when you go and you talk about network design to somebody from oil and gas, it’s not the first thing he’s gonna think about in the morning,” he noted.

This aligns with research showing that supply chain talent development programs increasingly emphasize not just technical proficiency but also leadership competencies, strategic thinking, and the ability to communicate complex analytical insights to non-technical stakeholders.

Proving Value Through Quick Wins

SLB’s transformation didn’t happen overnight. It began with small, focused projects designed to demonstrate value and build organizational buy-in—what Cam calls having “a few cases” to show “there is value in doing those small optimizations”.

One early project examined spare parts distribution. The business planned to consolidate all Latin American distribution in Houston—a decision that seemed logical based on proximity. “I guess, you know, logistically or distance-wise, it kind of makes sense,” Cam said. But network modeling revealed a counterintuitive result: “It was actually cheaper to do it from Dubai, based on logistics costs, customs, and with very little to no delay in terms of lead time”.

This approach of starting with pilot projects resonates with broader best practices in network optimization. Industry experts recommend using focused pilots at key sites as “invaluable testing grounds” that provide clearer views of what’s achievable across entire networks while building stakeholder confidence.

The quick-win strategy also addresses a critical challenge: securing ongoing management support. Research by BCI revealed that while top management commitment to supply chain resilience increased during the pandemic, many organizations later reported only “medium” rather than “high” commitment—a concerning trend that threatens to undermine hard-won improvements.

The Technology Stack: Purposeful, Not Perfect

SLB’s technology approach exemplifies pragmatism over perfection. The core modeling engine is Supply Chain Guru, but Cam emphasizes this is just one component of an integrated stack.

Critical enablers include robust planning systems that provide supply plans for the next 6-12 months, integrated logistics lane data from SAP, and increasingly sophisticated risk assessment capabilities. During COVID and subsequent disruptions, the team developed methods to transform news and market intelligence into quantified risk matrices by lane, enabling scenario modeling that balances cost optimization with risk mitigation.

“We started to look at adding risk… and being able to start to pull this in some sort of a risk matrix,” Cam explained. “This kind of changed the way we did the models to say, okay, this is really the total cost… to something where, well, those are the alternatives. This one might be a little bit more costly, but we do think that the risk is lower, therefore it might be worthwhile”.

This evolution reflects industry-wide trends toward digital twins and real-time visibility platforms. Only 6% of organizations currently have full end-to-end supply chain visibility, but investment in advanced analytics, IoT sensors, and AI-powered platforms is accelerating. Technologies that enable real-time tracking, predictive ETAs, and exception alerts are becoming standard requirements for competitive supply chains.

A New Procurement Playbook

Dynamic network flexibility requires rethinking not just network design but also procurement strategy. SLB made significant changes to its engagement with logistics service providers (LSPs).

The team implemented comprehensive lane stratification based on volume and frequency. For high-volume, high-frequency lanes, SLB established long-term commitments with carriers, using index-based pricing to balance stability with market responsiveness. “Those things, we’re going to work together. Provided you’re on the market… I will absolutely continue to give you that business,” Cam explained.

For lower-volume or complex movements—such as shipments from Bogota to Luanda—the organization built in-house expertise to work the spot market effectively. “I need to have the capacity in-house,” Cam noted.

This balanced approach resolves a core tension in modern freight procurement. Long‑term contracts deliver price stability and deeper carrier relationships, but in volatile markets, they can become a liability. When rates spike, carriers often prioritize higher‑paying spot cargo—resulting in rolled sailings, reduced allotments, or forced spot purchases. Shippers locked into low annual rates can therefore find themselves short of capacity or paying a premium to secure space at the last minute.

The solution isn’t abandoning strategic partnerships but rather creating what industry experts call “mini-tenders” or tactical tenders—shorter-term contracts of one to three months that sit between strategic annual tenders and pure spot buying. SLB’s approach of combining committed relationships on core lanes with spot market agility for other movements exemplifies this evolution.

Data-Driven but Action-Oriented

Perhaps the most striking aspect of SLB’s approach is the willingness to act without perfect information. When Ian Arroyo, Freightos’ Chief Strategy Officer, asked about advice for other Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCOs), Cam was emphatic: “Take the data you have, whether it’s 60%, 70%, and start building something so you can have some data behind the decision and start playing with this… adjust as you go”.

This philosophy of rapid iteration over exhaustive analysis challenges traditional supply chain planning culture. “Going quickly to the decision-making and not trying to find the perfect solution, but to have something where you either fail fast, or actually you come to something which is quite a fast solution with some assumptions,” Cam advised.

The approach aligns with emerging agile project management frameworks that emphasize momentum over excessive planning. Quick wins create organizational buy-in and learning opportunities that perfect plans—which often become obsolete before implementation—cannot provide.

Research by McKinsey supports this bias toward action. Organizations that implement agile supply chain strategies, characterized by rapid decision cycles and continuous adaptation, demonstrate significantly greater resilience during disruptions than those that rely on traditional long-term planning.​

Advice for the Journey

For LSPs and carriers, Cam’s message is clear: provide better data and more flexible solutions. “Help in getting some more actionable insight and quantifying risk, quantifying likelihood… would be very beneficial,” he said. Beyond rates and capacity, LSPs should offer alternative solutions that support flexibility—such as expedited ocean lanes or modal alternatives—that enable BCOs to make informed trade-offs between cost, speed, and risk.

For BCOs, especially smaller organizations questioning whether they have the resources for this approach, Cam offered encouraging words. “In the grand scheme of things, I have a team of 6 people that do that. It’s not a huge amount of people,” he noted. Organizations can start with one skilled person who can translate business requirements into models.

The key is experimentation: “Try and test and do a few models with a bit of assumption… actually, I think is, for me, the key, because then you start to get some answers”. Use commercially available tools rather than attempting custom development, embrace assumptions, and iterate based on feedback from business stakeholders.

The Path Forward

Dynamic network flexibility goes beyond a tactical adjustment. It is a fundamental reimagining of how supply chains should operate in an era of persistent volatility. The traditional model of comprehensive, long-term network optimization projects conducted every few years simply cannot keep pace with today’s rate of change.

SLB’s journey demonstrates that transformation is achievable even for organizations operating at a massive scale across complex global networks. The approach requires investment—in people, tools, and new processes—but the alternative is increasingly untenable. With disruptions costing 8% of annual revenue and showing no signs of abating, organizations that cling to static network designs are effectively choosing to be vulnerable.

The shift to six-month planning cycles, scenario-based modeling that incorporates risk alongside cost, balanced procurement strategies that combine commitment with flexibility, and rapid iteration based on partial data rather than perfect analysis represents the new baseline for competitive supply chain operations.

As Cam summarized: “There is a changing market, so you need to be able to react to that market… Because you’ll have those cycles every 6 months”. In today’s supply chain environment, that’s not just good advice—it’s a competitive necessity.

Organizations embarking on this journey should remember that perfection isn’t the goal. Quick wins that demonstrate value, skilled people who can translate business needs into actionable models, technology that supports rather than dictates the approach, and relationships with LSPs built on transparency and mutual benefit form the foundation of success.

The chaos isn’t going away. But with dynamic network flexibility, organizations can finally build the stable platform they need to thrive within it.