About SupplyMaven
Supply Chain Risk Intelligence For Professionals Who Act on Data
SupplyMaven is a supply chain risk intelligence platform that monitors over 200 data variables in real time. It tracks port congestion at 26 global ports, commodity prices for 31 assets, manufacturing output across 8 US power grid regions, border wait times at US-Mexico and US-Canada crossings, and macroeconomic indicators from the Federal Reserve and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The platform produces two core indexes. The Global Disruption Index (GDI) quantifies overall supply chain disruption risk on a 0-100 scale by combining transportation, energy, materials, and macroeconomic signals. The Supply Manufacturing Index (SMI) is a patent-pending index that detects US manufacturing output changes up to 24 hours before government reports by analyzing weather-normalized electricity demand.
The Global Disruption Index (GDI)
The GDI is a composite score on a 0-100 scale that quantifies supply chain disruption risk. Higher scores indicate greater risk. The index combines four pillars, each independently scored and weighted based on statistical importance to overall supply chain health.
Each pillar uses statistical normalization against historical baselines to convert raw data (vessel counts, commodity prices, wait times, economic indicators) into comparable risk scores. When a port has 30% more vessels than its 90-day baseline, or a commodity price deviates significantly from its historical norm, the score rises proportionally.
Measures: Port congestion across 26 global ports, US border wait times, maritime chokepoint monitoring, and freight rate indicators.
Transportation disruptions are the most immediately visible supply chain risk. Port congestion at Los Angeles or Rotterdam directly delays goods movement within days.
Measures: Crude oil prices, natural gas prices, regional electricity demand, and refinery utilization.
Energy costs flow through every supply chain. Refinery outages affect chemical feedstocks. Natural gas spikes raise manufacturing input costs. Electricity demand signals industrial activity levels.
Measures: Prices for 31 commodities including metals (copper, aluminum, steel), semiconductors (gallium, germanium), agricultural products (wheat, corn, soybeans), and industrial inputs (lithium, rubber, lumber).
Raw material price movements are leading indicators of cost pressure. A 20% copper price spike today becomes a procurement budget problem in 30-90 days.
Measures: VIX volatility index, Producer Price Index (PPI), industrial production, manufacturing employment, capacity utilization, dollar index, and trade balance.
Macroeconomic conditions set the backdrop for supply chain risk. A strong dollar makes imports cheaper but exports harder. Rising PPI signals cost pressure across the economy.
The Supply Manufacturing Index (SMI)
The SMI measures real US manufacturing activity by analyzing electricity demand across 8 power grid regions: MISO (Midwest), ERCOT (Texas), PJM (Mid-Atlantic), SWPP (Southwest), CISO (California), ISNE (New England), NYIS (New York), and NW (Pacific Northwest).
Raw electricity demand includes residential heating and cooling loads that have nothing to do with manufacturing. The SMI uses a patent-pending thermodynamic normalization algorithm that strips out weather-driven demand using NOAA degree-day calculations. The remaining signal -- the manufacturing component of electricity demand -- is compared against rolling baselines to produce a scored index.
Official manufacturing data from the Federal Reserve (Industrial Production, INDPRO) is published monthly with a 15-day lag. ISM PMI is a monthly survey. The SMI updates from hourly EIA data, detecting manufacturing output changes within 24 hours rather than weeks. This gives procurement teams, operations managers, and commodity traders an early warning window measured in days, not features.
The SMI uses an inverted scale: lower scores indicate stronger manufacturing activity, higher scores indicate weakness. Scores below 35 indicate strong manufacturing, 36-50 is normal, 51-65 is below trend, and above 65 signals weak manufacturing output. Regional scores are combined using GDP-weighted averaging to produce the national index.
Data Sources
SupplyMaven ingests data exclusively from primary government and institutional sources. No surveys, no estimates, no self-reported data. Every number on the platform traces back to an authoritative data provider.
Data: Hourly electricity demand across 8 US power grid regions. Monthly petroleum, natural gas, and refinery data.
Used for: Supply Manufacturing Index (SMI) and Energy pillar of GDI.
Data: Industrial production (INDPRO), manufacturing employment (MANEMP), capacity utilization (MCUMFN), PPI, VIX, dollar index, trade balance.
Used for: Macro pillar of GDI and SMI validation.
Data: Real-time vessel positions and port vessel counts for 26 global ports.
Used for: Port congestion scoring in the Transportation pillar.
Data: Spot prices for 31 commodities across energy, metals, agricultural, and industrial categories.
Used for: Materials pillar of GDI and commodity price tracking.
Data: Commercial vehicle wait times at US-Mexico and US-Canada land ports of entry.
Used for: Border component of the Transportation pillar.
Data: Temperature, degree-day calculations, and severe weather alerts across US regions.
Used for: Weather normalization in the SMI algorithm.
Data: Global news articles filtered for supply chain, trade, energy, and logistics keywords.
Used for: News signal boost in GDI and intelligence briefs.
How SupplyMaven Works
Automated pipelines fetch data from government APIs (EIA, FRED, CBP, NOAA), commodity pricing services, vessel tracking providers, and news sources on schedules ranging from hourly to daily. Each data point is timestamped and stored with its source for audit purposes.
Raw data is normalized against historical baselines. Port vessel counts are compared to 90-day rolling averages. Commodity prices are scored against historical distributions. Manufacturing electricity signals are weather-adjusted and compared to 24-month baselines. This converts disparate data types into comparable risk scores.
Processed scores feed into the GDI and SMI indexes, which update in real time on the dashboard. AI-generated intelligence briefs provide natural-language analysis of current conditions for each pillar. Alerts notify users when scores cross risk thresholds or when significant changes are detected.
Who Uses SupplyMaven
Monitor raw material price movements and supplier region risk. When commodity prices spike or manufacturing activity drops in a supplier's region, adjust safety stock levels, accelerate purchase orders, or activate alternate suppliers before the disruption affects production.
Track port congestion and border wait times across global trade routes. When congestion builds at a destination port, reroute shipments to alternate ports, shift modes from ocean to air, or adjust customer ETAs before the delay cascades through the delivery schedule.
The SMI provides a leading indicator of manufacturing demand for raw materials. When the SMI shows manufacturing strengthening in a region, demand for industrial inputs (steel, copper, energy) typically follows. This signal arrives hours to days before it shows up in traditional market data.
The GDI provides a single number that captures overall supply chain health. Instead of monitoring dozens of separate data feeds, managers can watch one composite score and drill into pillar details when the score moves. Weekly intelligence briefs summarize conditions and highlight emerging risks.
Frequently Asked Questions
SupplyMaven is a supply chain risk intelligence platform that monitors over 200 data variables across transportation, energy, materials, and macroeconomic indicators. It produces two core indexes: the Global Disruption Index (GDI), which quantifies overall supply chain disruption risk on a 0-100 scale, and the Supply Manufacturing Index (SMI), which detects US manufacturing output changes from weather-normalized electricity demand analysis.
The GDI is a composite supply chain risk score on a 0-100 scale, where higher values indicate greater disruption risk. It combines four pillars -- Transportation, Energy, Materials, and Macro -- each scored individually and weighted based on statistical importance. The GDI updates in near-real-time as new data arrives from government agencies, commodity markets, and port monitoring systems.
The SMI is a patent-pending index that measures US manufacturing activity by analyzing weather-normalized electricity demand across 8 power grid regions (MISO, ERCOT, PJM, SWPP, CISO, ISNE, NYIS, NW). By stripping out heating and cooling demand, it isolates the industrial electricity signal and detects manufacturing output changes up to 24 hours before they appear in official government reports like the Federal Reserve's Industrial Production index.
SupplyMaven ingests data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), NOAA, Datalastic (vessel tracking), Commodities-API, and GNews. All data comes from primary government and institutional sources, not surveys or estimates.
Data update frequency varies by source. Electricity demand data arrives hourly from EIA. Commodity prices update every 3 hours. Port congestion scans run multiple times daily. FRED economic indicators update on their publication schedule (monthly for most series). The GDI recalculates whenever new data arrives from any pillar.
SupplyMaven is designed for procurement teams, freight forwarders, commodity traders, supply chain managers, and operations professionals at small and mid-sized businesses. It provides the same type of supply chain risk intelligence that large enterprises build internally, at a fraction of the cost.
Dashboard access is $299 per month. API access for programmatic data retrieval is $499 per month. Both plans include all indexes, intelligence briefs, and real-time alerts.
The ISM Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is a monthly survey of purchasing managers. It reflects opinions and expectations, published once per month with a lag. The SMI measures actual electricity consumption in manufacturing regions, updated hourly from EIA data. It detects changes in real manufacturing output up to 24 hours after onset — weeks before the PMI survey captures the same signal.
Supply chain intelligence that works as hard as you do.
200+ data variables. 26 global ports. 8 US power grid regions. 31 commodities. Two proprietary indexes. One platform.