A product supply chain may be viewed not just as a series of discrete,
unrelated shipment transactions, but as a "process" (or pipeline) that
can be subject to statistical process control. The present invention is
directed to novel systems and methods for collecting data concerning one
or more aspects of a supply chain, for performing statistical analysis on
the collected data to facilitate the identification of anomalies or
inefficiencies in the process, and for communicating the results of such
statistical analysis to those responsible for the supply chain so that
remedial measures may be taken, if appropriate. Among other things, a
method for analyzing a supply chain process is disclosed that involves
automatically determining whether a plurality of data points, each
representing at least one determined value of at least one monitored
aspect of a supply chain, match a pattern indicative of an anomalous
condition in the supply chain process.