The parts team believed they had diversified suppliers because their ERP listed four active vendors for bracket assemblies. Our concentration map revealed that three of those vendors subcontracted milling to the same facility in Jiangsu — a detail absent from purchase orders.
Geographic clustering matters more than vendor count. A regional power rationing order, a local environmental inspection, or a highway closure near one industrial park can halt production for names that appear unrelated on paper.
We chart tier-one and inferred tier-two locations using bill-of-lading consignee data, certificate-of-origin fields, and shipment frequency. The visual output is deliberately blunt: a shaded map with percentage labels that executives can read in under two minutes.
Mitigation does not always mean finding a new country. Sometimes it means qualifying a second facility within the same province, splitting lot sizes, or holding buffer stock timed to seasonal inspection windows. The chart gives you the conversation starter; the briefing turns it into a ranked action list.