Tag Archives: Experience

Huawei’s European factory to boost supply chain efficiency

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Huawei's European factory to boost supply chain efficiency

The China-based tech giants, Huawei, is set to build a factory in France to produce 4G and 5G wireless equipment to accelerate supply chain efficiency.

According to analysts, the new facility will allow Huawei easier access to its telecommunications carriers in Europe, while also easing concerns over alleged spying for China’s government.

Stéphane Téral, executive director of telecommunications research at IHS Markit, commented: “At this stage of the mobile industry, it is critical for Huawei to have a radio communications factory somewhere in Europe to relieve the pressure on the existing ones in China. “We clearly see firsthand the disruption the coronavirus crisis is creating.”

It is expected that the factory will produce €1bn worth of products annually, while also creating 500 jobs.

It is thought that the company chose France due to the country’s ideal geographic position, mature industrial infrastructure as well as its highly educated talent pool. Peter Liu, vice-president analyst at Gartner, said: “The European facility will improve Huawei’s efficiency because the company will be able to integrate itself into the supply chain in Europe.”

The news follows Huawei’s launch of its 5G Innovation and Experience Centre in London which encourages increased collaboration between businesses and innovators in the development of 5G ecosystems. Victor Zhang, Vice-President of Huawei, added: “With the opening of our 5G Innovation and Experience Centre in London we, as a leader of 5G, are taking another important step. What we have opened today will enable true collaboration amongst UK businesses and technologists and showcase the huge potential of 5G applications for both the private and business sectors.”

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Reducing logistics costs by enabling a pull-based, vertically integrated supply chain through IoT

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The traditional supply chain model often used in retail distribution is outdated and broken. Customers want more and they want it now but businesses’ inability to step up to the mark can leave customers waiting for product or worse – not waiting and going elsewhere. To match modern customer expectations, business needs to adopt modern methods. Changes of this type are far from easy, however, IoT could hold the key to unlocking the supply chain of the future.

Thanks to the rise in on-demand services and almost anything you want being just a click away, consumers are becoming more and more demanding. In sympathy with this, commerce and industry are responding by doing everything they can to improve the customer experience and get an edge on the competition.

In the best case scenario, the customer will wait for the goods to become available and purchase anyway; in other cases, the customer will shop elsewhere or even give up on the purchase altogether. It’s all too familiar a story and it’s as old as the concept of commerce itself. However, it doesn’t have to be the case. With a combination of IoT (Internet of Things) technology and vertical integration of the order process, businesses can achieve a leaner supply chain and ultimately say goodbye to the phrase, “out of stock”.

The supply chain as we know it

In a traditional supply chain model, the process typically begins with the manufacture of a product. For this to happen, the manufacturer will need to create a bill of materials for the product and order enough raw materials from their suppliers to make enough of the product to meet consumer demand. For this to happen, the raw materials suppliers need to have enough stock themselves to fulfil the order. If this doesn’t happen, production could be delayed which could lead to a lack of stock at the retailers.

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The secret to making customers care about supply chain

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Imagine a world where customers care about how products are sourced, made, and delivered, understand what goes into pricing, and generally take great joy in the experience. A world where customers are fluent in the language of supply chain.

It’s not as farfetched as you may think.

Supply chains solve complex problems. And in the company of supply chain professionals, we use big words and complicated terms to talk about it. Words like multi-modal logistics and global transportation, mass-customisation and postponement, procurement and letters of credit, demand management, the cost of inventory and buffer stock, assurance of supply, warehousing, and the last mile.

We nitpick over the differences between distribution and fulfilment centres, debate the true definition of supply chain visibility and the role of control towers to support orchestration across a complex network of suppliers, trading partners, and carriers. And we’re still not sure if our industries are facing an apocalypse or simply working through the growing pains of transformation in the digital age.

It’s a mouthful. And as we dive into the technical details and jargon that comprise the modern language of supply chain, one can’t help but picture the average consumer’s eyes glazing over.

But that’s not necessarily the case. There’s mounting evidence people care more about supply chain than ever – they’re just not using our words for it.

Therein lies the secret.

The words used to describe supply chain were different at the recent Shoptalk Europe conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, a gathering of more than 2,500 retailers, start-ups, technologists, and investors all focused on the worlds of retail, fashion, and ecommerce. Though most attendees weren’t purely in the business of operations and supply chain, all were exploring how to reach, engage, and enlighten the customer wherever and whenever they might choose to shop.

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Elemica Discusses 10 Top Supply Chain “E Lessons Learned” in 2014

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Elemica Discusses 10 Top Supply Chain “E Lessons Learned” in 2014

Elemica, the leading Supply Chain Operating Network provider for the process industries, discusses lessons learned in 2014 that will deliver value to a company’s supply chain, better positioning businesses to champion their marketplace in 2015. Companies that use these lessons learned to implement evolving practices and gather metrics across supply chain processes will capture new market opportunities and mitigate risk, significantly reduce operating costs, and improve their customer service capabilities.

“2014 was a year of economic growth for many industry sectors, yet there is still room for improvement, especially if a company is on a continuous improvement journey,” said Ed Rusch, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Elemica. “We’ve put together these ‘E Lessons Learned’ from real customer experiences, industry analyst expertise, and our own involvement with peers to help businesses grow and move forward in the New Year.”

  1. Ecosystem – Supply Chains are becoming more of an ecosystem rather than disparate parts, enabling accountability, visibility and agility.
  2. Experience – With customer requirements ever changing downstream, process manufacturers are deploying more sophisticated strategies to keep customer service levels high without resorting to piling on the cost in terms of buffering stock.
  3. Extend – Instead of focusing inward on the company itself, outside-in supply chains put the customer first.
  4. Expectation – Unmet expectations occur when companies attempt to force trading partners to collectively adopt a single standard. Integration across the varied, distributed, and complex needs of thousands of individual trading partners and their respective enterprises, without requiring any of them to change the way they do business, is a reality today.
  5. End-to-End – The process industries are moving away from a manufacturing focus to more of a supply chain view linking supply with demand.
  6. Exponential – The network effect builds when the capability to do more with more makes all the existing participants better off.
  7. Engage – Build better relationships with B2B Social.
  8. Ease – Business Networks enable companies to find common ground with their customers.
  9. Expose – Bring risk and variability to the forefront or expect surprises.
  10. Envision – Master Data Management (MDM) creates a single view of the business.

What have you learn about supply chain in 2014? Share with us in the comment box. Feel free to send us a message for discussion and subscribe to get updates in your inbox.

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