Guides
Practical, in-depth guides on supply chain risk for small and mid-sized manufacturers: tariffs, landed cost, sanctions, shipping routes, inventory and simulation. Written by the Simdots team.
CBAM for manufacturers: what the EU carbon border tax means for your costs
Since January 2026, imports of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity into the EU carry a carbon cost. It starts small and grows every year until 2034. If you buy these goods, directly or inside components, it belongs in your cost model now.
02MethodsInput-output tables: how a shock spreads across sectors and countries
Your suppliers have suppliers, and theirs have suppliers too. Input-output tables are the map economists use to follow a shock along all of those links at once. They are public, and more useful to manufacturers than most people think.
03CostingLanded cost: what it is and how to calculate it
The supplier's price is only where the cost starts. Freight, insurance, duty, brokerage and port charges can add a fifth or more on top, and they move independently. Landed cost is how you see the real number.
04MethodsMonte Carlo simulation for supply chain risk, explained
A single forecast says "the shipment arrives in 30 days". A Monte Carlo simulation says "half the time within 30 days, one time in ten after 41". The second answer is the one you can plan with.
05InventorySafety stock and lead time: how much inventory to hold when routes get longer
When a route gets two weeks longer, most companies add two weeks of stock. The right answer is usually different, because what drives safety stock is not the length of the lead time but how unpredictable it is.
06LogisticsShipping chokepoints: Suez, Hormuz, Panama, Malacca and what a closure costs you
A handful of narrow passages carry a large share of the world's seaborne trade. When one of them closes, the effect reaches factories thousands of kilometres away within weeks. Here is how to know whether yours is one of them.
07SourcingSingle-supplier risk: how to measure dependency and when to dual-source
Most manufacturers have a few inputs that come from one supplier, often for good reasons. The risk is not having one supplier; it is not knowing how long you could last without it.
08ComplianceSanctions screening for suppliers: OFAC, EU, UN and UFLPA explained
Buying from a sanctioned company, or from a company owned by one, can freeze payments, block shipments at customs and expose you to penalties. Screening is cheap; finding out at the border is not.
09Risk managementHow to stress-test your supply chain: a step-by-step guide for manufacturers
Banks have run stress tests on themselves since 2009. The same idea works for a factory with 40 suppliers: map what you depend on, apply a plausible shock, and measure what it does to margin and cash before it happens.
10Trade & tariffsHow to calculate the impact of tariffs on your margins
A 25% tariff on an input does not mean a 25% cost increase, and it rarely stops at the inputs you import yourself. Here is how to compute what a tariff really does to your margin, line by line.