July 21, 2022

Digital Supply Chains: Present and Future Opportunities

As part of Supply Chain Week 2022, Esther Chan, Senior Manager of Global SCM of Requis, led a lively panel discussion with end users and technology providers about digital supply chain management developments. Ms. Chan opened the session by asking the panel, “How are industry leaders approaching digital supply chain (SC) solutions?”

Nari Viswanathan, Senior Director of Product Segment Marketing of Coupa Software, stated, “There are more constraints and challenges affecting SC management. Consequently, managers must incorporate digital technologies to make SCs more resilient. To be successful, companies must have in place the people, processes, and technologies addressing SC management issues.”

Amit Varma, CEO of Braintoy, added, “SC managers must focus on predicting what will happen and taking insightful action. With digital tools such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), SC managers can convert volumes of real-time data into knowledge and drive the most value from this data.”

warehouse worker in high-vis using laptop

Current landscape

Digitalization affords a new approach to SCs and supplier management. Ms. Chan queried the panel, asking, “What progress have organizations achieved in digitalizing SCs?

Andre Serpa, Manager of Supply Chain Processes Policy, Pembina Pipeline Corporation, commented, “Data is an asset, and digital tools automate data management.”

With AI and ML, organizations can:

  • Standardize SC processes
  • Visualize collected data for users
  • And establish a new real-time data ecosystem for decision-making.

Using cloud-based enterprise platforms, software, and digital tools, SC managers can handle the data tsunami from beginning to end. According to Serpa, simplifying and automating processes increases transparency across the SCs and enable insightful decision-making.

“Digital disruption is a trial-and-error process,” said Serpa. Moreover, organizations have varying SC management needs. Many digital tools are available. Consequently, SC managers’ thinking must evolve beyond Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. “SC managers must upscale their skills and be more data-centric and data interpreters,” stated Serpa.

Ms. Chan added, “Professionals out there need to take the initiative or learn themselves. It is not on the onus of the company, to progress in this area (of digitization) and to do some self-learning.”

Designing a digital supply chain

By nature, SCs are dynamic and nonlinear systems. According to Mr. Viswanathan, advanced technologies, such as digital twin (DT) modeling, support the continuous improvement of SC systems. Applying DT models, users test their SC designs under different conditions and identify optimum solutions. As a result, SC managers can predict the future and enact proactive strategies instead of reacting to changing conditions.

Using dynamic simulations with real-time data, SC managers can design more robust and resilient SCs. “It is a process to develop a model and to achieve a more dynamic SC design through continuous improvement,” says Viswanathan.

Mr. Varma added, “SC professionals are data-driven by nature. Users need new (digital) tools to do a better job.”

Foundation developments

With cloud-based platforms, models, and digital tools, SC managers can address emerging foundations now reshaping SC management. As a result, selecting the lowest-cost supplier is no longer a viable business decision; new challenges, foundations, and costs affect SCs’ efficiency and resilience.

“Rising shipping and transportation costs, increased duties and container rates, unavailability of containers, and delays at ports collectively raise product costs,” said Darrin Redies, Director of Presales and Solution Design of The Answer Company.

For example, the 2019 shutdowns in Asia cut off access to goods and rolled forward as shipping delays. Traditional trend analysis did not detect this functional requirement. According to Redies, companies need real-time visibility across the business and suppliers to manage such events. More importantly, by using real-time data and sharing information, SC managers have greater clarity of the total cost of goods.

Case histories

The panel shared several case histories in which digital tools and advanced cloud-based software successfully resolved SC problems. In the examples, the users were not AI engineers or scientists. “SCs are complex systems. However, digital tools should be simple to operate. With coaching and training, users can quickly and effectively apply these tools and improve their performance,” said Varma.

Wrap-up

Digitalization solutions automate work. Regarding SC management needs, AI and ML effectively manage tedious work; they clean and organize data for standardized processes. In addition, trained bots update templates with real-time data. As a result, SC have more time to do critical thinking and focus on higher-value duties.

“In closing, it is insightful to see things are making the shift in terms of supply chain management and technology advancements,” said Chan.

To learn more about Requis and how we can simplify your procurement efforts, please reach out to:

The entire discussion is available at: https://vimeo.com/714612037

 

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