The supply chain has reached a breaking point. Businesses are facing more pressure than ever before. Customer expectations are high, costs are skyrocketing, materials are in short supply. On top of all that, the flaws in traditional planning methods have become all too narrow and limited, making it difficult to overcome interdependent challenges in the planning process.
Lack of Agility
Companies need the ability to quickly respond to sudden changes in demand or disruptions in their supply chain ecosystem. Traditional supply planning often involves historical data, but historical data simply isn’t enough to navigate today’s challenges. With current world events shaping so many of the most significant factors impacting global supply chains, historical data either doesn’t exist or doesn’t provide the complete picture.
If a shipment is delayed, do you have the ability to see if you have extra inventory available elsewhere and evaluate whether or not the RFP justifies moving the inventory?
Data Utilization and Visibility
Data is a very powerful tool, but you need to be able to use it to its full advantage. Very often, companies struggle with visibility, encountering problems like a siloed technology landscape, data latency and governance, and incomplete or unavailable data. And visibility issues are particularly common when multiple parties need to be managed across shipments. It’s also very common to see companies that aren’t sure how to begin using their data.
Inventory Control
Under even the best of circumstances, inventory can be difficult to manage on a global level. In addition to data visibility issues, there are questions around when shipments will come in, how much safety inventory companies should carry, and balancing inventory to manage the costs of holding inventory with the need to maximize customer service.
Many of the supply chain challenges we’re dealing with today aren’t new problems. What we’re seeing are old problems being exacerbated by current factors like the ongoing pandemic, geopolitical unrest, labor shortages and delays at shipping ports. As a result, an increasing number of companies are now ready to invest in creating a more resilient supply chain through autonomous planning – but they aren’t sure where to begin.
Autonomous Planning Solutions
Cross-functional processes are key to transforming supply chain planning. Autonomous planning includes many smaller systems that need to be seamlessly integrated to make sure practices are carried out correctly and efficiently.
We can help you kick off the discovery phase with an assessment to identify where problems exist so that a transformation roadmap about how to move forward can be developed. This provides the opportunity to figure out which problems need to be solved, and prioritize them, which processes can be automated, and where we can insert technology to help.
Early in the process, we look for ways to give you some quick wins so that you can start seeing benefits sooner rather than later. We also focus on finding ways to minimize touchpoints so that automation can be used to take processes as far as they’re able to go. Building analytics is another priority so that we can help you start making informed decisions as soon as possible.
We understand that every business has its own unique needs and challenges. What works for one company may not necessarily work for another. With this in mind, we work to deliver solutions tailored to support each client’s individual needs.
Ready to make the most of autonomous planning?
We offer digital consulting services and provide solutions driven by speed, transparency and resiliency, helping make autonomous planning a meaningful addition to your company.
