What is Digital Supply Chain Management?
While you probably have already heard or read about the digital supply chain, you need to understand that we are talking about not only the present as well as the future. Digital supply chain management is a process of networking between companies and individuals that takes place in a paperless environment, only using web-enabled capabilities. While it has many different goals, the reality is that the main one is to deliver insights for increasing efficiencies, eliminating waste, and making it easier to achieve greater profits.
Objectives of Digital Supply Chain:
Digital supply chain (DSC) is the practice of deploying advanced technologies across the entire chain to improve efficiency and reduce costs. In addition to improving overall performance, digital supply chain management can help businesses to:
- Determine where materials are coming from, how they are stored and transported, and where they end up.
- Reduce transportation costs by tracking inventory more accurately.
- Can help companies obtain more accurate data about product quality and compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Enable better collaboration between suppliers and customers.
- Increase productivity and reduce time.
Digital supply chain management is a key component of any company’s digital transformation strategy. It can help companies improve quality, reduce costs, improve customer experience, and increase operational efficiencies – all of which are crucial for growing today’s increasingly competitive businesses.
This lecture is a part of the supply chain management diploma program offered by AIMS. This diploma is also a pre-requisite for the PhD in logistics and supply chain management distance learning program.
“When a company uses a digital supply chain, it begins to improve the way it handles assets, resources, inventory, and even people. After all, companies move them according to the current needs in order to reduce costs. Ultimately, the company will be able to see the results in terms of savings of time, money, and resources used.”.
Key Note!
7 Key Benefits of Digital Supply Chain:
In an ideal situation, a company is able to monitor real-time carrier locations, customer interactions with products, inventory levels, and equipment. A supply chain of any model can be digitized, such as a lean supply chain. It will then use all this information to plan and execute at higher levels of performance, and also useful when applying the supply chain planning techniques.
1. Optimize Supply Chain Lead Times:
When a company decides to be digitalized in SCM, it will be able to have better control over the supply chain. By making the right raw materials and production capacity available at the right time, efficiency increases.
2. Become More Forward-Moving:
One of its key benefits, without any question, is the ability of the company to start thinking forward and becoming more forward-moving. Instead of focusing only on a backward-looking approach, adopting the opposite approach will increase the company’s efficiency and performance.
3. Connect And Relate Data Sources:
When a company uses digital SCM, it is crucial that it is able to monitor real-time aspects of the different areas of the company. This is the only way that the company has to improve processes, identify better ways to move products, and do preventive maintenance.
4. Using Data Visualization To generate Data-Driven Plans:
As you probably already know, there is a lot of data available every single day. However, the main problem is that many companies don’t know how to handle this data and how to organize it properly. This can be done using data visualization that allows you to easily see a clear representation of what is going on inside your company in the different departments. By analyzing this data, you can then determine the areas that need to improve performance and become more efficient.
5. Improve Collaboration:
One of the main benefits of using data visualization is the fact that this will allow you to make changes in both the physical and digital aspects of the supply chain. Ultimately, the collaboration will improve.
6. Improve Cash Flow And Cost Management:
When a company uses the digital supply chain, it will make any necessary adjustments faster. This allows the company to have less capital tied up in the supply chain.
7. Make Customers Happier:
The main goal of a company is to make its customers happy when they get their products or services. Therefore, when you use a digital supply chain, you will be able to better understand what your customers need and want. Besides, since it will be faster to make changes in the supply chain, you can deliver exactly what your customers want and need faster, leaving them happier.
Digital Supply Chain Solutions:
These are the tools that help companies improve the efficiency, visibility, and security of their supply chains. The primary goal is to reduce costs and improve visibility across the entire supply chain. Digital supply chain solutions can be divided into two main categories:
1. Digital Technologies:
Digital technologies are tools that help track, monitor and analyze data in real-time.
2. Digital Processes:
Digital processes are techniques that help companies manage operations more efficiently.
“Digital supply chain solutions are an important part of any company’s strategy, especially as new technologies like blockchain continue to make their way into the industry.”.
Key Note!
Digital Supply Chain Software:
This software is used to track and manage the flow of goods across a business. It can be used across different industries, including manufacturing, retail, distribution, and transportation. There are many different types of digital supply chain software, each with its own specific purpose.
- Some digital supply chain software helps companies keep track of inventory levels, while others help make sure products are moving through the supply chain safely.
- They help businesses save money by reducing waste and errors, and they can also help companies increase productivity by making sure everything is running smoothly.
- Digital supply chain software can also help companies comply with regulations such as ISO 9000 or 9001.
Conclusion:
As you can see, digital SCM is not a thing of the future; it is already part of the present and you should already be using it right now. In case you’re not, you need to hurry to ensure that your business or company keeps growing at a good rate.