With the last few years offering disruptions aplenty, it may be the time for your business to start rethinking its supply chain. Whether it be outsourcing it to the cloud or further digitizing it, methods like digital supply chain twins and supply chains as-a-service can alleviate much of the pain of running a business in the 2020’s.
Supply Chains as a Service
While this may sound unnecessary, it is important to consider the current state of supply chain management. Even if you remove the immense disruptions occurring today, it is wildly expensive to keep a supply chain up to date with the best technology provided by the push to Industry 4.0. All around the world, only large companies have the money and manpower to run such an operation, being wildly impractical for a small to midsized business.
So with the constant disruptions in materials and shipping, why not consider outsourcing some, if not all, of your supply chain as well?
With “as-a-service” subscription models booming when it comes to the software and cloud platforms, it is only natural that other industries would attempt to join the fray. Treated as an easy way to outsource your more time-consuming and troublesome tasks at your business, these subscription models can be lifesaving for smaller businesses, and the same applies to a supply chain as a service (SCaaS) setup.
Like other cloud services, SCaaS consists of a third-party team of supply chain experts that will support many aspects of a business’s supply chain operations through the cloud. Complementing your preexisting team, this group will help your business manage daily operations like production control, manufacturing, or logistics.
Even if your supply chain is in fairly good shape, diving into the SCaaS model can have you reap many benefits. These third-parties will give you access to senior level employees, all at a low or variable cost, saving the amount you spend on staffing and consulting by up to 50% according to SAE. With these outsourced employees, you can avoid turnover and improve the overall workload and satisfaction of your existing staff. The immense experience these employees have regarding supply chains can help you optimize your operations too, reducing the launch timelines in the automotive industry within the automotive industry by 33%.
Digital Supply Chain Twins
On the flip side, if you are in possession of a working supply chain, a SCaaS—while still able to improve some aspects of your operations—probably will not be of as much use to you. However, with all the moving parts within your production line, it can be a pain to even know where to start when it comes to optimizing your line.
That is where a supply chain digital twin comes into play. Much like other digital twins, a supply chain digital twin is a highly detailed virtual model of your supply chain, replicated from the real-time data provided from the physical chain. From there, it can solve a wide variety of challenges in your supply chain, from discovering bottlenecks, safely running tests on your model, as well as forecasting possible issues and needed output.
On paper, this sounds very familiar to a supply chain simulation model, but there are a few good differences that make a digital twin stand out. For starters, since it gets its data in real time, a digital supply chain twin has details of your chain down to the macro level, ensuring you get the clearest possible picture of your setup. Unlike a simulation model, you can also develop plans inside the virtual model, so you can plan well in advance for possible disruptions. From there, alarms and triggers can be programmed to alert you of any abnormal situations in your physical chain, automatically implementing any plans you have prepared.
Katalyst Can Transform Your Supply Chain
Disruptions can both be well known in advance yet also, at times shockingly, unpredictable. While SCaaS and digital twins can help your supply chain in uncertain times, there is always more your company can do to improve its resilience. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Katalyst Software Services Limited has helped many businesses survive and improve their responses via supply chain management software like CloudCelero ERP and WMS. If you want to know how Katalyst or CloudCelero can help you make your supply chain run easier, contact us today!
