by Greg West, Farthing West Chief Brilliance Officer
The world is rapidly changing – 3 D printing, smart machines that can perform more and more of our daily activity, autonomous devices, driverless cars and the rapid growth in the Internet of Things (IOT).
Supply chains, more than ever, need to adapt to the new challenges and opportunities that technology is posing.
Against this back drop of change it is not surprising that many supply chains are reactive rather than orchestrating their own future.
For businesses to survive going forward they will need to embrace change and move towards a service deliver paradigm.
So how do you ensure that your business will flourish in the new world of change? You need to develop an agile supply chain where it is understood that one size does not fit all.
Some key steps include:
- Promote a demand-driven supply chain culture.
- Understand value from the perspective of the customer and ensure that you are focused on maximising the customer experience and indeed measuring customer satisfaction.
- Use collaborative tools that allow demand management to become a key differentiating capability. This means that you have to have an integrated approach to planning, sourcing and delivery across the entire supply chain.
- Embrace a mature Sales and Operations Planning process.
- Collaborate with your suppliers so that costs are contained, speed to market improved and innovation opportunities are maximised.
- Level the demand in order to optimise costs across the total supply chain and improve service delivery.
- Continually drive down costs while collaborating to promote and support the top line.
In this changing world it is important to remember that supply chains are all about people, process and technology. Technology is the enabler and is changing rapidly. To ensure technology works to our advantage we more than ever need to develop brilliant processes that allow average people to deliver brilliant results.
If you would like to future-proof your supply chain, talk to us now.