Tag Archives: Manufacturing

10 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategies

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10 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategies

The supply chain is the gas that makes the motor run for manufacturing and retail. Without it, you have no product to sell, no inventory to stock, and no revenue to earn. Unfortunately, there will always be disruptions to the supply chain that throw everything out of whack and force both retailers and manufacturers to scramble to pick up the pieces. In a Gartner survey, only 21% of respondents stated they had a highly resilient network, though more than half expected to be “highly resilient” within a few years. That’s a positive sign, but what exactly can be done to get ahead of those supply chain risk factors?

Proper supply chain risk management enables businesses of all shapes and sizes to take advantage of tried-and-true strategies that mitigate risk and set them up for success. In order to develop your own risk management strategy, it helps to first understand what supply chain risks you might face.

What Are Some Supply Chain Risks?

Supply chain risk management refers to the process by which businesses take strategic steps to identify, assess, and mitigate risks within their end-to-end supply chain. There are both internal and external risks that can disrupt your supply chain, so it’s helpful to understand the difference between the two.

External Supply Chain Risks

As the name implies, these global supply chain risks come from outside of your organization. Unfortunately, that means that they are harder to predict and typically require more resources to overcome. Some of the top external supply chain risks include:

  1. Demand Risks: Demand risks occur when you miscalculate product demand and are often the product of a lack of insight into year-over-year purchasing trends or unpredictable demand.
  2. Supply Risks: Supply risks occur when the raw materials your business relies on aren’t delivered on time or at all, thereby causing disruption to the flow of product, material, and/or parts.
  3. Environmental Risks: Environmental risk in the supply chain is the direct result of social-economic, political, governmental, or environmental issues that affect the timing of any aspect of the supply chain.
  4. Business Risks: Business risks occur whenever unexpected changes take place with one of the entities you depend on to keep your supply chain running smoothly — for example, the purchase or sale of a supplier company.

Internal Supply Chain Risks

This refers to any supply chain risk factors that are within your control, and that can be identified and monitored using supply chain risk assessment software, robust analytics programs, IoT capabilities, and more. Although internal supply chain risks are more manageable than external ones, they’re still — to some degree — unavoidable. Here’s what to look for:

  1. Manufacturing Risks: Manufacturing risks refer to the possibility that a key component or step of your workflow could be disrupted, causing operations to go off schedule.
  2. Business Risks: Business risks are a product of disruptions to standard personnel, management, reporting, and other essential business processes.
  3. Planning and Control Risks: Planning and control risks are caused by inaccurate forecasting and assessments and poorly planned production and management.
  4. Mitigation and Contingency Risks: Mitigation and contingency risks can occur if your business doesn’t have a contingency plan for supply chain disruptions.

Read more at 10 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategies

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Oracle releases new cloud analytics offering for Oracle Fusion SCM offering

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Oracle, a global provider of integrated cloud applications and platform services, announced it rolled out a new cloud analytics offering for its shipper customers using its Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) platform, which connects shippers’ supply networks with an integrated suite of cloud business applications.

Earlier this month, Oracle, a global provider of integrated cloud applications and platform services, announced it rolled out a new cloud analytics offering for its shipper customers using its Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) platform, which connects shippers’ supply networks with an integrated suite of cloud business applications.

Oracle said that the new cloud analytics provide shippers with the needed insights “to detect, understand, and resolve issues faster throughout the supply chain.” And they added that in leveraging Oracle Analytics Cloud and Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse, the new Oracle Fusion SCM Analytics provides shippers with pre-built metrics and dashboards that utilize machine learning capabilities that help shippers on various fronts, including reducing costs, ensuring customer satisfaction, and driving revenue.

“Supply chains are under immense scrutiny as organizations face new and unexpected disruptions,” said T.K. Anand, senior vice president, Oracle Analytics, in a statement. “Now more than ever, organizations need real-time insights into every element of their supply chain to help them make the right decisions and get ahead of disruptive events and changing customer expectations. With Oracle Fusion SCM Analytics, customers can quickly uncover supply chain performance insights, identify issues, increase efficiency, and minimize supply chain disruption.”

Jon Chorley, GVP of SCM Product Strategy and Chief Sustainability Officer, Oracle, provided LM with a detailed overview this new offering in interview.

  1. LM: What drove the need for Oracle to roll out Oracle Fusion SCM Analytics?
  2. LM: What are the main benefits of the new analytics capabilities for shipper customers?
  3. LM: Can you please provide a basic example of how it functions?

This example highlights how Oracle Fusion SCM Analytics provides customers with new ways of working with data by using machine learning-powered predictions, which helps organizations gain actionable insights to improve supply chain performance – and ultimately deliver the best possible customer experience.

Read more at Oracle releases new cloud analytics offering for Oracle Fusion SCM offering

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Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

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Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

Just as we typically don’t think about how groceries get to our grocery store, we probably don’t wonder how medical supplies get to our hospital room or doctor’s office. But for those of us who work in hospital supply chain management, we know a lot of negotiating, storage and coordination goes into this at the best of times.

As the world confronts COVID-19, issues regarding medical supply chains have been thrust into the spotlight. When a previously nonexistent health threat spreads across the globe in a matter of weeks, demand for essential medical equipment suddenly outstrips supply. Fraudulent vendors become a higher risk. Established vendor partnerships are strained. In fact, this virus originated near a major personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing area in China. This greatly reduced supply at a time when the world needed it most.

While most of UW Health has thus far not encountered a surge of COVID-19 patients, we have still faced unprecedented challenges since the onset of the pandemic. To overcome these current and potential shortages, serious creativity and collaboration need to be front and center.

With so much still unknown, a best-case scenario might be a new normal of carefully caring for COVID-19 patients in steady conjuncture with the many other patients who need our support. This creates a significant and prolonged increased need for PPE, posing tremendous challenges as the supply chain is under immense stress.

Using Public and Private Partnerships

As an academic medical center where our physicians are also faculty of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, UW Health often works methodically. Now that time is of the essence, the health system and university have been collaborating closely and swiftly, and UW Health is benefiting greatly from its close partnership and proximity to the institution’s educators and students.

Making Unusable PPE Usable

In mid-March, UW Health received 1,250 hoods from the strategic national stockpile. These were meant to be used with our PAPRs, the respiratory protection systems that protect healthcare professionals when bodily fluids can be aerosolized, such as during intubation. Powered by a blower strapped around the wearer’s waist and connected by a hose to a hood covering the head, PAPRs offer the highest form of protection to a medical professional’s head, face and respiratory system during high-risk procedures.

Keeping Hand Sanitizer Flowing

As COVID-19 rapidly spread, the supply of hand sanitizer dwindled everywhere. We knew we would be hard-pressed to safely care for patients without it, so again we relied on the ingenuity and expertise of partners, this time at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy’s Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment, which typically focuses on supporting drug development.

Reuse and Recycle

Sometimes supply chain challenges are not about getting or making more, but making existing supplies go further. We began sterilizing used N-95 respirators to reuse if we experienced a significant surge of patients. We have not yet needed to use them, but preparing for the worst is vital.

UW Health goes through thousands of surgical, isolation and patient gowns each week. Sourcing new, disposable gowns would be nearly impossible in the current climate. Fortunately, we are part of a laundry cooperative that not only launders all linens but sterilizes surgical and isolation gowns. Partnerships like this put a health system in a better position to control the supply chain than if it were a contracted client to a third-party laundry vendor or disposable gown supplier.

Read more at Supply Chain Creativity During COVID-19

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April manufacturing output feels impact of COVID-19

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While March began to show how the coronavirus, or COVID-19, began to truly impact the economy, things came into even starker perspective in April, based on data in the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing Report on Business, which was released today.

The report’s key metric—the PMI—at 41.5 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth)—declined 7.6% from March’s 41.5, falling for the second straight month, which was preceded by two months of growth. The April reading was 7.5% below the 12-month average of 49.0 and is also the lowest reading over the last 12 months and the lowest reading going back to April 2009’s 39.9. What’s more, ISM reported that April marked the first month that the overall economy contracted after a stretch of 131 consecutive months of economic expansion.

ISM reported that two of the 18 manufacturing sectors it tracks saw growth in April, including Paper Products; and Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products. And the 15 industries reporting contraction in April, in order, are: Printing & Related Support Activities; Furniture & Related Products; Transportation Equipment; Textile Mills; Fabricated Metal Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Machinery; Plastics & Rubber Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Petroleum & Coal Products; Wood Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Computer & Electronic Products; Primary Metals; and Chemical Products.

Each of the report’s key metrics saw declines in April.

New orders, which are commonly referred to as the engine that drives manufacturing, saw a steep 15.1% decline, to 27.1 after a 7.6% decline, to 42.2, in March. This marks the third straight month of declines and is the lowest reading for new orders since December 2008’s 25.9. ISM said that two industries—Food, Beverage & Tobacco products and Paper Products—saw growth in April, with the remaining 16 all seeing declines.

Production—at 27.1—was down 20.2%, contracting for the second straight month and is the lowest figure since numeric ISM Report On Business index records were first issued in January 1948, with the 20.2% decrease from March representing the largest one month decline going back to January 1984, when it was down 20.7%. ISM said that two manufacturing sectors—Paper Products and Food, Beverage & Tobacco products—grew in April.

Employment—at 27.5—was down 16.3% compared to March, falling for the ninth consecutive month, and is its lowest reading since June 1949’s 27.2 reading, and represents the largest one-month percentage-point decrease going back to January 1948, when ISM began keeping numeric records. ISM said that each of the top six manufacturing sectors saw employment contraction driven by the furloughs and layoffs, due to a lack of new orders, with social distancing mandates also factoring into the number.

April inventories—at 49.7—headed up 2.8%, while contracting at a slower rate for the 11th consecutive month. The report explained that inventory contraction slowed as was expected, due to supply chain disruptions and the lack of labor to convert material, with 10 manufacturing sectors reporting higher inventory readings in April.

Read more at April manufacturing output feels impact of COVID-19

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Samsung eyes blockchain technology to cut supply chain costs by 20%

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Samsung is targeting the introduction of blockchain technology that could reduce its global shipping costs by up to 20%.

Song Kwang-woo, vice president of Samsung SDS, the Korean multinational’s specialist technology arm, has revealed the company is investigating the possibility of using a blockchain ledger system to ‘fuel its digital transformation’.

By automating channels of communication both internally and with port authorities, it predicts that it will be able to improve efficiency by up to a fifth – potentially saving billions of dollars every year.

“It (blockchain) will have an enormous impact on the supply chains of manufacturing industries,” said Song, speaking to Bloomberg. “Blockchain is a core platform to fuel our digital transformation.”

Samsung works with approximately 2500 suppliers around the world, building relationships around five key criteria: cost competitiveness, human resources capacity, on-time delivery, response to risk and supplier competitiveness. SDS says it will handle around 488,000 tonnes of air cargo and 1mn TEUs in 2018 alone.

Last May, SDS launched a blockchain pilot to track imports and exports of shipments in Korea’s shipping sector, a trial that concluded at the end of the year.

Read more Samsung eyes blockchain technology to cut supply chain costs by 20%

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Scientist Ng brings AI to manufacturing

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Artificial intelligence pioneer Andrew Ng launched a new AI company Landing.ai on Thursday.

On the same day, the company announced a strategic cooperation with electronics contractor Foxconn to develop a program that aims to bring AI and machine learning technologies to the manufacturing industry.

According to Ng’s statement, his company is developing a series of programs to help enterprises transform for the age of AI, including providing new technologies to optimize companies’ organizations structures, train employees, and more. The company’s businesses will start in the manufacturing industry.

Ng said the AI technology is conductive to manufacturing enterprises to improve quality testing process, shorten products’ design cycle, remove bottleneck of supply chain, reduce waste on materials and energy and raise output.

AI will revitalize manufacturing industry and generate jobs in the industry, he said. I In the age of AI, the employees need to accept new skills training to fit jobs that will be more complex than before, Ng added.

Landing.ai will provide solutions to some employees who are likely to be laid off, Ng said. Currently, the company is discussing the training plan with some potential partners including local governments.

Read more at Scientist Ng brings AI to manufacturing

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Microsoft Reinvents its Supply Chain by Leveraging SAP Ariba & Intrigo Systems

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Microsoft Corp. has one of the most complex supply chains in the world.

And to keep it humming and ensure supply keeps up with demand for its hottest products, the company is reinventing its supply chain.

In a newly released Webcast (watch the video above), the company discusses how it is teaming with SAP Ariba and Intrigo Systems to create a scalable, modern platform to support the efficient, cost-effective manufacturing of its most popular products, including the Xbox and Surface.

“At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. And our strategy to achieve this is to build best-in-class systems and platforms and productivity systems,” said Ali Khaki, Principal PM, Supply Chain Engineering, Microsoft.

“When we looked at our supply chain, it was clear we needed to build a flexible, scalable platform that could support the complexity of our hardware business.”

And it is using SAP Ariba solutions for direct spend to do it.

“The Ariba® Network is the backbone for Xbox and Surface line of products supply chain,” Khaki said.

Through the Ariba Network and the cloud-based applications delivered on it – including SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration™, Microsoft has created a modern platform from which it can safely and easily collaborate with multiple tiers of contract manufacturers and suppliers across key supply chain planning and execution processes, including:

  1. Sharing production forecasts, orders, quality, and inventory information.
  2. Anticipating and resolving supply assurance problems.
  3. Onboarding suppliers.

Read more at Microsoft Reinvents its Supply Chain by Leveraging SAP Ariba & Intrigo Systems

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How intelligent automation will impact and revitalise global supply chains

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The idea of automation in manufacturing and the supply chain is nothing new – since the earliest days of the industrial revolution we have sought to automate tasks with machines, and lower the cost of manufacturing processes.

In countless cases, the application of machines, and more recently software, has meant improvements in the consistency of products, facilitated near 24/7/365 production and has meant staff can be focused on higher value tasks in their company.

Yet the use of technology in the industry may not be fully understood; a recent Capgemini survey showed that nearly half (48%) of UK office workers are optimistic about the impact automation technologies can have. However, while respondents to the survey had a general idea of the benefits that might accrue, they were less clear as to how these technologies could be applied to their specific area of work. And worryingly, only 20% said they felt their organisations were currently benefiting from automation – clearly the industry is missing a trick.

However, as utilisation stagnates for certain companies, the market is maturing. Automation is now reaching far beyond simple process software and mechanisation. Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cognitive computing, advanced robotics, Digital Fabrication and blockchain are becoming increasingly popular, bringing together the power of automation and analytics.

Yet other areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which are proven enablers for new ways of optimizing the supply chain and manufacturing processes, are less understood. It’s agile, forward-thinking businesses that are able to utilise these technologies in a thoughtful way that will reap the benefits.

Read more at How intelligent automation will impact and revitalise global supply chains

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Cloud-Based Analytics for Supply Chain and Workforce Performance

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Plex Systems, a developer of cloud ERP for manufacturing, has introduced two new analytic applications designed to provide manufacturers insight into supply chain performance and their workforce.
The new Supply Chain and Human Capital analytic applications build on the library of applications in the IntelliPlex Analytic Application Suite, a broad suite of cloud analytics for manufacturing organizations.

The Plex Manufacturing Cloud is designed to connect people, processes, systems and products in manufacturing enterprises. The goal is not only to streamline and automates operations, but also enable greater access to companywide data. The IntelliPlex suite of analytic applications aims to turn that data into configurable, role-based decision support dashboards–with deep drill-down and drill-across capabilities. The IntelliPlex Analytic Application Suite includes analytics for sales, order management, procurement, production and finance professionals.

IntelliPlex Supply Chain Analytic Application
The new IntelliPlex Supply Chain Analytic application provides a dashboard for managing strategic programs, such as enterprise supplier performance, inventory and materials management and customer success. Metrics include:

  1. On-time delivery and return rates by supplier, part, material, etc.
  2. Production backlog by part group, product time, etc.
  3. Spend by supplier and type, including unapproved spend
  4. Inventory turns and aging based on type, location, etc.
  5. Materials management accuracy, adjustments and trends by type, location, etc.
  6. On-time fill rate, customer lead time, average days to ship, fulfillment by location

Read more at Cloud-Based Analytics for Supply Chain and Workforce Performance

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The Analytics Supply Chain

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Businesses across many industries spend millions of dollars employing advanced analytics to manage and improve their supply chains. Organizations look to analytics to help with sourcing raw materials more efficiently, improving manufacturing productivity, optimizing inventory, minimizing distribution cost, and other related objectives.

But the results can be less than satisfactory. It often takes too long to source the data, build the models, and deliver the analytics-based solutions to the multitude of decision makers in an organization. Sometimes key steps in the process are omitted completely. In other words, the solution for improving the supply chain, i.e. advanced analytics, suffers from the same problems that it aims to solve. Therefore, reducing inefficiencies in the analytics supply chain should be a critical component of any analytics initiative in order to generate better outcomes. Because one of us (Zahir) spent twenty years optimizing supply chains with analytics at transportation companies, the concept was a naturally appealing one for us to take a closer look at.

More broadly speaking, the concept of the analytics supply chain is applicable outside of its namesake business domain. It is agnostic to business and analytic domains. Advanced analytics for marketing offers, credit decisions, pricing decisions, or a multitude of other areas could benefit from the analytics supply chain metaphor.

Read more at The Analytics Supply Chain

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