Supply Chain Inefficiencies & How to Fix Them
Why Build Visibility In Your Supply Chain
Supply chains are no longer linear. They are multi-tiered, multi-faceted and multi-supplier. To avoid cost-intensive disruptions, supply chains now require end-to-end visibility and the continuous reassessment of individual processes. Fragmentation, supply chain blind spots and a lack of flexibility can lead to major inefficiencies, which cause significant time and money losses.
Leading-edge companies are implementing solutions for full end-to-end visibility, especially in serialized environments. They are reinventing their supply chains to access the necessary insights for critical decision-making. While many companies may have real-time tracking in certain areas of their operations, they rarely have complete information. The holistic view remains elusive.
Challenges Create Inefficiencies
A recent industry study found that less than 15 percent of manufacturing companies have achieved complete visibility into their supply chain. Most supply chain data is locally stored within an organization, and within that organization, departments usually store the data in some combination of paper, spreadsheets and shared digital folders.
Many of the actions within the supply chain are not visible to a diverse set of actors across the value chain. Key stakeholders need access to the right information at the right time in order to make critical decisions. This disconnect creates challenges that cause the following inefficiencies:
- Inability to share key information at the right time, if at all, with all stakeholders
- Volume and speed of data capture from multiple sources
- Compliance with various country-specific regulations having different requirements, i.e. serialization, food safety, aggregation, etc.
- Lack of standardization that impedes the flow of data and communication
- Integration of serialization and other data into business processes and systems
- Different reporting formats and information requirements to governmental/institutional databases and supply chain partners
Creating Efficiency From End-to-End Visibility
A global tracking & tracing system offers a holistic, transparent view of all supply chain logistics. It helps trace material provenance from raw ingredient batch origin to finished product across the material value chain. This extended supply chain helps you combat those common inefficiencies and achieve Supply Chain eXcellence.
Sharing Standardized Information
This digital audit trail creates a cyber-physical foundation with standardized language, communication and knowledge. It becomes easily accessible anywhere at any time by anyone with the correct permissions. The real-time information is available for both operations and enterprise planning.
Data Volume
Data digitalization and automation have been shown to reduce manual errors and variability which improves quality and compliance. Data automatically collected from all machines and devices is stored in a central database and is now accessible to supply chain stakeholders. It can be used for tasks such as authentication, quality assurance, traceability and verification.
Data Integration
The trusted chain of uninterrupted data can assist in determining future demand, quality issues or other global market trends in advance. It also provides information on product flow for optimizing the best routes and suppliers to handle the shipments as well as confirm that they are complying with industry standards, product requirements and regulations.
Digital Supply Chain (Tracking & Tracing) systems can be applied to the management and sourcing of ingredients and inventory. As with the pharmaceutical products themselves, their ingredients can have verification of their authenticity and quality. For inventory, suppliers and manufacturers can maintain the appropriate levels of stock so there is never a shortage or an excess amount on hand. This type of traceability helps reduce costs.
Compliance & Reporting
Life science stakeholders like market authorization holders, contract manufacturing organizations or wholesalers are affected by these challenges on different levels. They need to fulfill different legal requirements in order to be compliant with serialization regulations to ensure patients’ safety. Serialized products help with traceability as data is captured each time the item, bundle, case, package, pallet, etc. is scanned throughout its journey and therefore always trackable.
A successful tracking & tracing solution must efficiently integrate serialization with your business processes and effectively manage this serialized data, which often varies by country or region. It is also about extending the traceability to batches, products and shipments after they leave the factory until they reach their destination.
Digitalization drives out inefficiencies and allows key stakeholders to understand the implications of potential business changes and what areas they might affect. It enables deeper integration across the entire value chain. This will allow for optimization of tactical production planning and operational scheduling, enabling better planning results and automation of end-to-end processes. Extended supply chain visibility also allows for improved enforcement of product safety and supply chain security.
Conclusion
Companies are reinventing their supply chains to create new levels of responsiveness and agility. While robotics, automation and other technologies are useful, there is still the basic need for cross-function, end-to-end visibility. Organizations using end-to-end supply chain data to improve process efficiency will outperform those that rely on lag-based functional metrics.
- Connected Business Operations: Easily onboard your supply chain partners and work together with them within a secure network that integrates with your business processes.
- Efficient Logistics Processes: Make decisions based on real-time insights and manage by exception. +50% improved efficiency through real-time automated supply chain collaboration -20% unplanned costs through visibility into in-transit and network-wide inventory
- Reduced Costs of Integrating Your Value Chain: Apply and digitalize communication standards across your complete value chain network.
Even though regulations and consumers may be driving the demand for traceability, supply chain stakeholders also reap benefits from access to this real-time information. Digital tracking & tracing solutions paired with other Industry 4.0 technologies enable critical decision-making based on real-time cross-company insights from the global value chain. The benefits are real:
- Reduced in-transit inventory by 15% by removing buffer stock from the supply chain
- Reduced dwell time, in extreme cases from 20 days to less than three, which potentially decreases shipping rates by inventory pooling and improved manufacturing planning
- Proactive monitoring of actual performance against plan
Engineering’s Advantage
Engineering Industries eXcellence is a global technology leader delivering the next generation of solutions and consulting services to advance smart supply chain ecosystems. We are recognized as a trusted technology expert and implementation partner that enables businesses to realize new opportunities for growth while complying with regulations. By connecting the entire supply chain, our digital tracking & tracing solutions provide real-time insights into the global value chain, with harmonized information from raw material to end-of-life.
Expertise in Advanced Digital Supply Chain (Tracking & Tracing) Solutions
- Supply chain integrity and visibility
- Integrated digital tracking & tracing solutions
- 70+ successful serialization and tracking & tracing projects
- Regulatory compliance and end-to-end traceability
- Solutions for multiple industries and supply chain partners
- Digital supply chain technology expert and implementation partner
