Gartner defines network design as the optimization of the location and function of supply, manufacturing and distribution networks in support of an overarching company strategy and customer requirements. Supply chain network design tools support the creation of network models with the application of analytics to determine the optimal supply chain design in a structured, scalable and repeatable way. Supply chain network design tools support the determination of recommendations about the structure of the supply chain network. This includes decisions about facility locations and size, transport lanes, and modes in the end-to-end supply chain. The scale of the changes being evaluated vary from small modifications, such as changing a mode of transport or swapping transportation lanes, to large-scale changes that involve opening/closing/repurposing several facilities in the network and the associated knock on impacts. The use of supply chain network design tools to support the decision-making process enables companies to review more potential configurations for the network than a manual process allows, supporting a complete, data-driven decision making process. These decisions are usually made in strategic and tactical time frames.