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5 Ways Digitization Transformed the Supply Chain

Digitization has proved to benefit the efficiency and productivity of the supply chain. The point of digitizing is to revamp supply chain management and to streamline repetitive tasks. A 2017 study from McKinsey found the average supply chain has a digitization level of 43 percent and only 2 percent of executives said that the supply chain is the focus of their digital strategies. Seizing an opportunity to digitize the supply chain has surprisingly been a challenge for a lot of companies. Embracing new technology also means revamping operational practices – which could even mean building a whole new management strategy.

The best way to digitize is to integrate advanced, leading-technology and revamp operations. Management usually understands the measures to the transformation approach – establishing a vision for the future supply chain, assessing the current state and envisioning the future path to take.

We’ve analyzed five different ways that digitization influenced the innovation of the supply chain.

  1. Supporting major operations like warehouse management.

    It was clear there was a need for innovating warehouse management. Tasks were becoming too tedious and were at risk for being mismanaged. Digital technology provides tansformative capabilities for inventory management. Linking cross-functional data like inventory, shipments, and schedules from internal and external sources, forecasting demand and performance. This is a way for planning to become more precise, and problems can be anticipated and prevented. A supply chain digital-transformation, then, is about establishing how applications can improve cost, agility and inventory levels to drive operational excellence. Our ComplyLink software is an automated database that tracks and traces every order that comes through an order management system – helping to manage inventory levels. Scanning routines like scan/pack, scan/print and scan/verify with ComplyLink automatically updates the database with shipping data. As a result, it eliminates the need for manual entry of order data making warehouse management more efficient and accurate.

  2. Digital transformation employs analytics, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technology to collect and process information automatically.

    Before digital technology, orders were processed by hand; getting passed along, person to person. Each time facing error-prone updates causing incorrect or delayed orders. Files were easily lost and entering data was a painstaking task. Our suspicious order monitoring software, SOMLink, is designed with a repository to store critical information pertaining to each customer. Each time an order is processed we compare it to past orders in regards to frequency, size and pattern. This allows companies to quickly identify and be alerted about orders of interest. Instead of delegating a single person to manually keep track of records for orders of interest and report then to the DEA, we created a solution to automatically process and store that information. SOMLink automatically captures orders of interest before they are fully processed and directly reports them to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Significantly reducing the risk for businesses.

  3. New technology can integrate better methods for collaboration.

    The key to supply chain success isn’t just a matter of buying and installing software. It’s about utilizing this software to reach the highest level of collaboration because it allows for an end-to-end perspective and update of the supply chain. This supports the overall mission of changing the ways employees and teams share/gather information. It also seeks out problems and opportunities for improvement, reaches decisions and carries out actions. The newest digital technologies can move a company forward with better methods of collaboration and prevent them from returning to their old ones. For that reason, both of our solutions have a multi-user interface feature that encourages collaboration among team members. It’s a key value for us to ensure our solutions make businesses more efficient and operations a lot smoother.

  4. Digitization can provide better end-to-end customer engagement.

    When supply chains utilize digital technology it allows the process to be undeniably transparent. The technology gives mangers more control with the orders and having a system that automates everything provides customers with detailed updates about their shipments. These updates include routing information, quantity of contents, and the date they’ll be shipped and delivered, also known as an advanced shipping notice. ComplyLink has a transportation management feature where suppliers and their customers can electronically exchange information from purchase orders to shipment authorizations. We make it easy to keep your customer “in the loop” so communication is not lost, and shipments are expected. The TMS feature also sends detailed advanced shipping notices to customers allowing them to prepare ahead of time for orders.

  5. Digital technologies provide deeper, more insightful assessments on supply chain performance.

    Integrating supply chain processes with ERP systems sets up data streams from sources within its organization. Incoming data is fed into the same processing engine where it can be connected to show how activities and decisions in one area of the supply chain affect other operations.  Linking related data sets can uncover systemic issues including: mismatched lead times and past-due purchased orders that hinder future key performance indicators of future demand for extended suppliers.  The consequences of not linking related data sets leads to customer order delays. This ties closely with that end-to-end perspective necessary for supply chain success.  Supply chains quickly have a domino effect if technology is not employed. One area of the supply chain isn’t fully up to speed and another area is waiting on them, it prevents high levels of work getting done. This feature ensures efficiency and create high-end productivity among the team.

 

 

Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/digital-transformation-raising-supply-chain-performance-to-new-levels