Supply Chain Movement 15 – IT

Contents Supply Chain Movement 15: IT – 2014 Q4

Publishing date: 21 November 2014

7 | News & Background

  • Winner and Loser of the last quarter
  • Snapshots International Supply Chain Summit Istanbul
  • Opinion: Multiply your skills, or be left behind
  • Updated Supply Chain Map of Europe: Slight shift in European networks

14 | Map Europe 2014/2015

16 | Profile Jeroen van Weesep, Lego

There are almost as many Lego Minifigures in the world as there are people – but that pales into insignificance compared with all the Lego bricks that have passed through children’s hands since 1957. At the start of this century the family-owned company came close to bankruptcy, but a successful transition from a product-focused to marketing-focused approach managed to turn the tide again within the space of a few years. As Vice President Supply and Inventory Planning Europe and Asia, Jeroen van Weesep is helping to safeguard and sustain that transition in the supply chain. In June of this year, he was voted Supply Chain Professional 2014.

22 | Management: IT in the supply chain

Four years have elapsed since the introduction of the iPad. That’s the same length of time that many larger companies need to develop and globally implement new supply chain software. But can companies and their IT systems keep up with the rapid pace of market developments? PepsiCo, ASML and Agrifac are all investing in supply chain software at different levels.

30 | Facts & Figures: ERP and supply chain visibility

32 | Supply chain solutions in the cloud

The rise of cloud-based technology is unstoppable in terms of both infrastructure and applications. Cloud computing is also dramatically changing supply chains, but since it is still in the midst of its evolution not all applications are currently suitable for use as a service. At the moment, the cloud is most commonly used for data sharing within the chain.

34 | Mindmap End-to-End Supply Chain Traceability

Supply chains are becoming increasingly international and finely meshed, and hence more complex. In order to provide the required level of service to highly demanding customers and to gain a firm grip on the supply chain, end-toend traceability of goods is essential. But this presents major supply chain challenges. Supply Chain Movement has collaborated with Zetes, a specialist in supply chain solutions and supplier of automatic identification and mobile solutions, to produce this mindmap for end-to-end supply chain traceability. It outlines the route and includes road signs indicating potential hazards along the way.

37 | Self-assessment for data management

Company performance is increasingly dependent on data quality. Reliable data which is used in several different places within the company (master data) helps companies to perform better: they are able to meet their customers’ needs better, sell more, make fewer mistakes and better decisions, and innovate more successfully. Furthermore it is easier to keep costs under control. To enable you to discover where your company stands in terms of managing master data quality, Finavista has developed this self-assessment tool.

39 | Tools & Technology

–          Answers rather than data

41 | Supply Chain Agenda of Roberto Crippa

Until June of this year, Tecniplast, an Italian manufacturer of laboratory equipment and specialised plastics, did not have a formal supply chain. This was the stumbling block for this ‘pocket-sized, multi-national’ company with 30,000 m² of production and assembly facilities and sales worldwide. The business and the mind-set of the company had already moved from one that used to sell products to one that manufactures and delivers complex solutions. Such a transition requires a profound redesign of the Operations in order to meet the challenges of increased complexity and volatility: this was the reason the company invited external consultants to analyse the problem and design a long-term improvement Roadmap. This immediately highlighted the need for an end-to-end process view of the supply chain. Roberto Crippa was the consultant involved, who having set up the supply chain was then asked to stay on and run it.