This paper discusses the application of systems engineering alongside industrial ecology, systems dynamics and soft systems methodology to the study of industrial supply chains. As supply chains are ultimately a human activity, a multidisciplinary approach must include human‐centric investigation and knowledge‐sharing techniques. Systems engineering is seen as a proper foundation for defining a process for which the characteristics are unknown and for solving the problems found in cross‐organizational supply chains. Building on (Haskins 2003, 2004), Christopher Alexander's pattern language approaches are considered as a mechanism for sharing best practices. The paper closes with suggestions for the direction of further research.