MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

Technology helps an organization with enabling and sustaining new processes and capabilities necessary to execute the global supply chain strategy. Reviewing existing supply chain technologies and technology trends may trigger ideas about how to connect new technology capabilities with identified Customer requirements. Just keep in mind that the Customer requirements, not the technology, should drive the development of new supply chain capabilities. How effectively some of these technologies improve or even transform an organization’s supply chain greatly depends on how successful the organization is in hiring and retaining people who can understand and use them. Training and talent planning need to be therefore part of any technology strategy.

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Objectives

01. Drivers of Technology in Supply Chain: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. IT Implementation in Global SCM: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Key Drivers of digital supply chain: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Critical Analysis of Technology in Supply Chain; departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. The Role of Technology in Supply Chain; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Technology Benchmarking: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Implementation of Technology in Supply Chain: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Technology and Green Supply Chain Management: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Industry 4.0 and Global Supply Chain: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Linking Supply Chain Management and Blockchain Technology: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Information Technology in Business Process Reengineering: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Technology Enabled SCM Processes: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Drivers of Technology in Supply Chain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. IT Implementation in Global SCM: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Key Drivers of digital supply chain; : Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Critical Analysis of Technology in Supply Chain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. The Role of Technology in Supply Chain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Technology Benchmarking: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Implementation of Technology in Supply Chain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Technology and Green Supply Chain Management: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Industry 4.0 and Global Supply Chain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Linking Supply Chain Management and Blockchain Technology: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Information Technology in Business Process Reengineering: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Technology Enabled SCM Processes: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Drivers of Technology in Supply Chain.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse IT Implementation in Global SCM.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Key Drivers of digital supply chain.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Critical Analysis of Technology in Supply Chain.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse The Role of Technology in Supply Chain.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Technology Benchmarking.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Implementation of Technology in Supply Chain.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Technology and Green Supply Chain Management.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Industry 4.0 and Global Supply Chain.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Linking Supply Chain Management and Blockchain Technology.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Information Technology in Business Process Reengineering.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to analyse Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Technology Enabled SCM Processes.

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Workshop Introduction

Introduction to Technology Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is the department or division inside an organization tasked with managing processes and supplies through all stages of a business deliverable, product or project. Business manufactured goods follow a defined path through which they move from one stage to the next until they are ready to be delivered to the end customer. The logistics of supply chain deals with handing over finished goods to the customer and taking them from one place to another. Getting through these numerous stages of the delivery process requires expertise of the highest order, which is where supply chain management and solutions come into play. Every aspect of business today is managed to ensure the delivery of goods to the required stakeholders and customers in a manner that does not include any obstacles or hindrances in the way.

What Is Supply Chain Management?

Supply chain management can be described as the approaches used by managements to tackle a number of different and complicated approaches used to integrate the flow of finances, information and materials efficiently across the supply chain. These items are outsourced from a number of places across the chain and require coordination from manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers and wholesalers. Items usually pass through a number of different hands, before they get to the final customer.

Supply chain management is hence tasked with integrating and coordinating the back and forth process that ensues due to the supply chain processes. The ultimate objective behind the management process is to improve the service standard for the customers, without increasing costs by many times. There are many pit stops made by organizations during the supply chain process. These stops start with the design and planning process, which needs to be monitored and executed in a controlled manner. Any issues that might arise in the project are identified in the design and planning process. This process significantly reduces problems and ensures an optimal service standard. Like many other operations and activities undertaken by businesses today, the supply chain didn’t fully form by itself but was influenced by other disciplines around the work culture. The supply chain management process is made of bits and pieces of systems engineering, industrial engineering, operations management, logistics management, marketing, information technology and procurement.

The field of SCM isn’t static at all, with recent updates and upgrades helping organizations grow and develop their operations by great extents. The recent incorporation of technology in supply chain has revolutionized the way organizations approach the management process, and how the supply chain is managed across the ranks.

The addition of technology to SCM processes can help companies distinguish their presence from that of their competitors. From our reasoning in the previous chapter, we do understand that organizations employing technology are more efficient and responsive than those that don’t.

Many Small and Medium Enterprises and other players in the global supply chain, however, find differences between the requirements of the customer supply chain and the tech capabilities they have. This inherent gap can lead to a drop in qualities, efficiencies and a lot more. While there are multiple levels of communication in a supply chain network, organizations should consider the integration of technology across all levels. All levels require the use of additional semantics and a common syntax so that data is interpreted ideally by all stakeholders.

The implementation of these IT systems may require heavy investments in data modeling, data protocols, knowledge base systems and data warehousing. Besides just the investment through money, organizations also need to be prepared for cultural changes that might occur as a result of these changes.

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Use Case of Technology in Global SCM

The addition of technology in the global supply chain management process has brought about a number of changes to the process. These changes ultimately help businesses achieve substantial growth across SCM processes. Organizations today can practice more control over their supply chain processes than before. This control allows them to consistently improve their supply chain performance and keep performing for as long as they can.

These new technologies have opened the avenues for new opportunities, and the supply chain industry couldn’t be in a better place. We now have a number of exciting technologies around us, all with a number of proven benefits and advantages.

Data Collection and Information Management
It is clear now that Big Data and the advanced analytics involved in Industry 4.0 are capable of transforming a number of industries and their day-to-day functions. From entertainment to healthcare and manufacturing, data collection and information management practices can help improve a number of processes.

Companies are also gradually adopting big data practices and techniques in supply chain management. The use of information systems can help create a more seamless and flawless flow of operations when it comes to supply chain management specifically. Information is crucial to the performance of a supply chain as it gives managers and stakeholders the basis to make decisions. Information technology or IT consists of actionable tools used to gain awareness of surroundings. Information can assist in the following core functions of a supply chain:

Real-Time Data Sharing and Processing
One of the major challenges of a supply chain network is the ability to integrate information from multiple platforms into a data channel. Real-time sharing of important and strategic information is necessary for the growth and sustainability of a supply chain model. It is also vital to ensure the seamless flow of operations across the supply chain.

The sharing and processing of supply chain data is directly related to various environmental factors, customer demand, partner strategies and even the supply levels coming your way. Transparency is a major point of contention in a supply chain. There are numerous factors you need to analyze and agree on before approving or recommending them. For instance, when optimizing or implementing a new delivery route, you have to consider the time it will take to travel to and from each destination, the starting point of the route, the drop-off point where the route concludes, the timeline for certain events and even external factors such as traffic and weather.

It is necessary for businesses to use information in order to retain control over not just processes, but the goods themselves as well. Having transparency and full knowledge over the sourcing and transportation of goods can come in handy during all future events. Supply chain management data sharing and modeling can help you pull out defective items and track defect rates. This can save a number of headaches and improve your understanding of the situation.

Managing External Factors with Data
Continuing from where we left off in the previous section, seamless logistics can be achieved by dealing with all kinds of circumstances and situations that happen as a result of external factors that are outside your realm of control. For instance, the socio-cultural changes in a supplier’s country can not only destroy performance, but can also hinder your timelines. Furthermore, massive shifts in consumer demand for totally unrelated reasons can put your supply chain in a spot of bother, especially if you haven’t prepared for the negative demand curve.

Big data solutions can come in handy here, as they organize and prepare data related to all external factors as well. You can use the actionable insights generated by these systems to determine just how they impact your productivity and performance. Imagine a system here that can help the processing and building of predictive models for better supply chain management. Using this system, you can better manage social events of the future and reveal the outcomes they carry.

Inventory Planning and Optimization
Perhaps the biggest use case of big data and information sharing comes in the realm of order optimization and inventory planning. Across the supply chain, information sharing systems can propel you into planning, optimizing and forecasting your stock levels to meet the changing demands around you.

This process is more about maintaining automation than running manual checks on deliveries. Big data solutions can significantly enhance information sharing to help and facilitate the process of inventory information. This can help while ordering new items when and where they are needed, shipping out orders and dealing with supply processes.

Let us imagine a manufacturer who develops a product that takes more than five months to manufacture. A big data system will take everything from product manufacturing and demand into consideration before suggesting an appropriate timeline for next order placement. This allows processes and things to run optimally without any flaws or impediments.

Through the use of technology, organizations can initiate an order optimization process without any extensive delays. As soon as one batch of manufacturing is complete, materials for the next batch are to be made readily available. Limiting and completely eradicating the downtime between organizations ensures efficiency of the highest levels.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
The presence of real time information systems can also lead to more nuanced advancements in the way things operate within an organization and in a typical supply chain. While information sharing systems improve the efficiency of the supply chain in general, they also help improve customer experience as a whole. Customers feel more satisfaction and are able to perform better over time. Regardless of whether you are delivering orders to retailers or to the direct customer, the sharing of efficient information across your supply chain gives you the leverage to minimize any flaws and ensure the proper provision of services across the chain.

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Supply Chain Integrated Software

Supply chain integration software is an interactive and expanded version of a traditional MRP or logistics system that enables the communication and collaboration between organizations and their supply chain stakeholders. An integrated software connection helps improve collaboration standards between suppliers and businesses, forecasts future trends with better precision and accuracy, reduces inventory wastages and shortens the product development cycle.

Integrated software operations are more often tailored to the specific needs of organizations operating in different industries. These organizations can use the tools within this network to run electronic data interchange and modules that can control and run numerous functions. The functions overseen by integrated software include warehousing, inventory control, purchasing and transportation/route setting.

While the customized settings do differ from industry to industry, the operation shares many similarities across the board. These similarities include:

• All integrated networks carry a supplier module that integrates and lists down the different layers.
• All integrated networks carry an operations module, which consists of inbound logistics, purchasing and manufacturing of goods.
• All integrated software operations carry a customer module, which includes the distribution of goods and services across multiple tiers of customers.
• Every integrated software operation carries a return channel for optimization in the handling and delivery of warranty, obsolete, trade-in and defective goods.

These systems are integrated on a function-by-function basis, enabling the optimization of results achieved by each process across the supply chain. Integrated software processes allow for better communication and optimization on a wider scale.

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Product Design and Modeling Technologies

The design world is rapidly adapting to the intensifying time to market rates and the reduced times to start a product cycle. Industries are moving forward faster than ever, and organizations can suffer greatly due to the downtime it takes for them to introduce and model products.

Technological advancements such as CAD, CAM, computer-aided engineering, design for manufacturing, design for assembling, simulation systems and modeling systems have all significantly reduced the time it takes for product launch and introduction in a number of developed industries.

Computer integrated manufacturing systems take the vision and capabilities of CAD systems and use them in a CAM environment. This integration can now help businesses unify all the processes involved in manufacturing and generate positive results from them.

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Modeling and Simulation

While CAD and CAM systems have been around for quite some time now, modeling and simulation systems are rather new and take the teachings and lessons of these systems forward to incorporate better design and processing. Led by innovation across the defense and aerospace industries and defined by almost 2 decades of manufacturing through CAD and CAM system, highly complex simulation and modeling capabilities are the need of the hour in manufacturing. The United States defense system has heavily invested in a new manufacturing system known as SBA or simulation-based acquisition. As per the system and its objective, all major weapons and arsenal would first be modeled before they are actually manufactured as finished goods. This reduces inventory loss, damages and errors in the manufacturing process. When fully implemented, SBA has the capacity to go beyond design and to model almost all aspects of a typical product life cycle. From the initial concept through to the recycling or disposal, the system will help find the sustainability and impact of products on the world.

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Introducing a Culture of Change

A business culture is strategically a balance of two elements – people and technology. Even after the implementation of technology across the board, elements need to work together to set an appropriate business culture in an organization. Technologies do not work independently. Hence, an organization’s success is dependent on their management of people and the ability to create a workforce that can adapt to whatever technological transformation is thrown at them.

Great organizations with significant presence in the supply chain industry have genuinely realized that the greatest throttle in the mission to greatness in global supply chain is not a lack of technology, or competition, product or market situation; but the people that work for them. The people working in an organization form its core, and without their full cooperation and integration, every attempt to infuse technological change may fall flat on its face.

Changing business culture is similar to re-building an organization from the first brick onwards, which is why this can be an intimidating and tiring job. Supply chains looking to develop technologically and incorporate solutions often face resistance in the form of disgruntled employees who aren’t willing to accept this change.

Before we further analyze this resistance, let us first understand why exactly a digital culture is important for your organization and what can be done to harness it.

• A digital culture can assist in the digital transformation and bring better mental agility to a supply chain’s workflow. This change in perspective allows organizations to take charge of opportunities and enjoy better results.
• A digital culture promotes transparency and banishes hierarchy from the workplace. Every employee is engaged in the decision-making process and there is focus on both, inclusive and exclusive growth.
• A digital culture helps add efficiency to processes and improves the acumen workers have over recent technology and innovations in the market. Instead of shying away from change, employees come up with ways to add innovation to strategic processes.
• A digital culture can help boost employee capabilities and increase their average skill-sets. Employees learn how to work on challenging briefs with conviction and presence of mind. They also learn how to manage new innovation and tech updates.

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Challenges in Minimizing the Resistance to Change in Culture

Challenging organizational culture and hierarchy can be tougher and more complex than you’d imagine. The challenges organizations potentially face here include:

Eradicating Traditional Company Culture
The biggest hurdle in the way of a digital culture is the presence of a traditional culture that is rigid and reluctant to budge. Traditional business cultures aren’t built on principles of flexibility and can prove to be averse to change. Employees have also become accustomed to the traditional culture and show no flexibility at all toward accepting updates and upgrades to the supply chain – even if it is for the betterment of the organization. In their mission to stick with old goals, employees lose sight of all that matters and the new goals that the business has set for itself. The leadership now has to take conclusive steps on how to gain acceptance for the change and how to mesh it within all nooks and corners of the workflow.

Infrastructural Costs
Incorporating a digital culture or transformation comes with its own costs. The process requires the implementation of a full-fledged infrastructure boosted through the presence of hybrid systems that can work together in compliance. The poky legacy systems and IT cells you have in your supply chain department can prove to be a hindrance in the overall processing and flows of this system. Eventually, when you do think of a wipe-off, the cost overruns can drain your business financially.

Limited Scalability and Resources
Having spent a significant amount of their budget on digital transformation, organizations do not have it in them to ensure scalability and utilization of resources in the digital culture. While in an ideal world, all supply chain businesses should allocate resources to cater to the challenges of a new culture, this happens very rarely. Often, organizations end up overrunning their budget and leave nothing for future complications.

Up Skilling Challenges
Once you have technological and advanced processes in place, you need to up-skill your workers and help them achieve the level of training and expertise required to work on and with these systems. Digital literacy is a massive roadblock today in the implementation of a broader digital transformation and an IT structure across the board. Even the processes associated with a typical digital transformation can be quite challenging to scale and grasp. Businesses have to come up with ways to spend heavily on training and mentorship programs so that employees don’t feel like they’ve been thrown under the bus.

Cultural resistance can be overcome by defining a vision and explaining it at all staff levels in the workplace. Additionally, an evaluation of the current culture can help you identify possible strengths that it possesses. Retain those strengths, so that employees aren’t completely handed over a transformed environment. Throw the junk of the previous culture away and retain the strengths after your evaluation. A separate management team to work effectively on evaluations and analyses of the process can also help minimize resistance to the implementation of technology in supply chain.

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Importance of Technology in Business

Technology saves businesses today from investing and wasting a significant amount of time and effort that they would otherwise put into their business. This increased optimization enhances the security and efficiency of different business processes and allows organizations to operate in a smooth manner. The corporate world today cannot deny the benefits that technology offers to it. A majority of all tasks today are managed through the addition of technology. Technology has become a need for businesses today and is actively desired in the world of supply chain. Some of the reasons technology is a need today more than a want include:

Technology Improves Communication

Many companies and supply chains today rely on technology and other applications around them to not only improve collaboration, but to also enhance communication standards across the organization. Several tech aspects are considered by supply chain leaders before they implement technology in full. With new and improved communication technologies available to businesses today, the supply chain is more comprehensive and easier to manage than ever. Traditional methods of communication were centered on the processing of purchase orders and weren’t just slow, but were also costly to maintain in the long run. To take an example of a traditional communication model, the OEM would receive an order from a customer, which would then be entered into the materials requirements planning or MRP system. Based on forecasts from the MRP system, the OEM would send a separate PO forward to suppliers for procurement of material. Suppliers also follow the same protocols upon receiving this order and take their sweet time to get production started. With the current electronic communications technology on offer by IT systems, purchase orders and material requests can flow almost automatically and instantaneously throughout the supply chain system. The entire process is managed at virtually no cost. While the up-front investments required for running these systems can be significant, they reduce administrative and operational costs for a significant period to come. These systems also come with the capabilities of drastically reducing lead times and improving responsiveness.

Technology Improves Efficiency

Technology can significantly improve tech efficiency in the supply chain. Organizations can be a lot more progressive and efficient in their operations when they use technology in their supply chain processes. The current advancements in the world of applied sciences and robotics have helped businesses facilitate customers in the best manner possible. With the recent development of IT in supply chain management, the concepts of supply chain management and design have become even clearer. The complexity of global supply chain management has worked as a major driver toward the incorporation of online communication systems and other instances of technology in supply chain.
The internet has significantly enhanced the richness and efficiency of communications on offer to customers today. With instant messaging and communication on the cards, businesses can easily interact with each other and enhance the communication on offer. This change is based off an evolution in the supply chain toward the development and integration of online business communities. Supply chain management puts special emphasis on the long-term benefits and cooperation of all parties involved in the supply chain process. This benefit is reaped through information sharing of the highest order. The variables involved in order placement and delivery are better communicated through an elaborate and detailed supply chain methodology. A growing number of studies have been conducted on the impact of IT on supply chain management and the growing trend of inter organizational and inter supply chain relationships achieved as a result of superior supply chain management. Information technology appears to be of utmost importance during the spread of these collaborative relationships. The role of IT is hidden from none, as it significantly enhances and increases the information sharing and processing capabilities of stakeholders involved in the supply chain process.

Influencing Decision Making With Data

Data has long been an inaccessible commodity for silos inside a supply chain. Without any intentional negligence of their own, businesses can often end up creating silos between partners, suppliers, vendors and other entities throughout the value chain. Breaking down these silos and using data as a tool to connect and make decisions can help organizations move forward and extend the capabilities of their supply chain. Technologies like automated data collection and asset tracking provide business leaders with unprecedented visibility into both, business processes and the assets used for performing them. The data gathered across these processes can be shared across the board for mutual benefits. One of the greatest benefits expected as a result of the data revolution of today is greater visibility. Most businesses are unable to recognize problems and let them slip away without taking any concrete measures to stop the damage before it is too late. Greater visibility will also enable organizations to respond in a better way to increased demand and achieve more profitable and leaner operations through the creation of enough goods. Silos are unhealthy for the growth and development of a business, which is why there is an inherent drive for global supply chain players to utilize data as a means to break the ice and connect departments together.

Protection Against Disruptions

Disruptions are common across the supply chain model today. Many organizations are affected by disruptions in the chain and are found without a proper plan ready. Technology offers protection from the problems of disruptions in the chain. To efficiently plan and manage the production and distribution of goods, businesses require the external global environment around them to remain predictable and consistent. Consistency is the key to business growth here. Managers can only optimize and add efficiency to your operations when they are sure of what the tides offer to them. You can then optimize your operations for profit maximization. Predictability also includes the stability of demand and supply. Stability ensures that all processes run smoothly without major disruptions. These disruptions can derail progress if not managed effectively. Furthermore, global supply chain progress is heavily dependent on technology today. You need to know the specifics in technology and how they can aid you in improving your processes. By identifying and implementing possible sources of technology, you can successfully improve supply chain processes. As we will study further in this course, technology improves supply chain processes, which is something all businesses require on the logistics front.

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Challenges in Implementing Technology

Every business, regardless of its size and structure, goes through a number of challenges when implementing technology across the board. With the changing technological sphere in the world of SCM, there is a constant pressure on organizations to keep up with a dynamic market. However, the implementation of new technology in either of the core processes does not come without its own set of challenges. While the competitive advantage of being technologically advanced does motivate you, there is also the challenge of implementation that you need to first surpass.

Certain challenges most organizations face here include:

Aligning Processes with Technology

Organizations need to view their digital transformation as a journey rather than a destination. Many organizations see the adoption of technology as a destination that will boost their productivity and standards without any additional effort from them. Adopting new technology is no easy feat, and you’re best served thinking of it as an arduous journey that will continue until all stakeholders and processes have been aligned together with the technology. Adopting new technology requires a strong vision and leadership skills. Leaders should be strong willed and should set accurate goals for the rest of the organization to follow. The technology you implement in your supply chain processes would require a human touch, which is why it is necessary to hone the skills of your support staff accordingly as well. New technologies should be incorporated into your current business processes in a manner that limits disruptions of all kinds and keeps them to a minimum. The focused implementation of technology can prove to be more effective and result oriented than just approaching the subject matter without any due background contemplation. Also remember to communicate the benefits of new technology to your team members and other stakeholders, so that they are just as excited about the prospects as you are.

Compatibility Issues with Legacy Systems

Fewer sectors are as excited about the prospects of enterprise technology as supply chain. The industry has long been berated for its inconsistency and lack of development, and technology now offers an avenue for it to escape this criticism. Most managers end up making the dreaded mistake of replacing all systems with new ones. They then start the implementation process from there onwards. As we have mentioned earlier, the process of implementing technology in your global supply chain process is a journey rather than a destination. You can’t view it as an overnight change, since it is a gradual process of updates. As a result of the slow and gradual nature of the process, business managers should try to boost their current systems. The digital revolution of today is all about tapping into external resources or solutions and augmenting your existing IT infrastructure with the resources and solutions you find elsewhere. This saves your internal team from a complete revamp and gives them an opportunity to focus on more strategic initiatives, while a third party can look after the challenges of migrating toward technology.

Minimizing Security Risks

The implementation of technology brings a set of risks with itself. These risks tend to be debilitating and while we do look at them in greater detail within this course, it is pertinent to mention the challenges businesses face in minimizing them. Regardless of whether a global supply chain decides to continue with legacy systems or incorporates a whole new set of processes and systems, it is necessary for the business to take calculated decisions and minimize security errors. For instance, a business shouldn’t hastily implement a cloud storage service to process information without thinking about critical factors such as data encryption and access control. All of these errors can prove to be criminal acts of negligence in the long run. Cyber security should always be a priority for organizations with a global supply chain. With a footprint expanding across the globe, the last thing the firm wants is a cyber attack. The implementation of technology in the global supply chain is no easy feat. An important tip you can follow here is to view the change as a journey rather than a destination.

Implementing Technology in Your Business

Technology implementation is dependent on a number of factors today. Supply chain managers need to be prepared for the challenges of IT implementation, and how they can deter the progress made by the organization. Supply chain businesses also need to streamline their processes in a way that sits well with everyone. Processes should be aligned and modeled in a disciplined manner. Such discipline and efficiency can only be incorporated in organizations through a high level of personalization and standardized procedures. All employees need to be trained in these procedures, so that they’re able to execute them in a sound manner without any errors. With the ever-changing market structure of today, it is important for organizations to be able to innovate and challenge the status quo around them. This can only be achieved through a change in the structure and discipline inside the organization. Gradual steps toward innovations should retain the stability and functioning of all current processes, while overcoming the minor hindrances in these operations. IT implementation inside the firm cannot only overcome this problem, but also give a reasonable solution to it. Currently, organizations with greater employee size and structure have incorporated IT programs in a more significant manner than other organizations that do not have such developed protocols and systems. When measured by the number of employees working in the firm, organizations with more employees were more likely to use information technology to communicate with employees and workers indoors and to also communicate with customers on the current order status and expected delivery. IT solutions have also been used by larger firms to manage customer service functions and to make interactions and engagement with customers easier to manage for all those involved.

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Future of Technology in Supply Chain

While the supply chain management landscape has significantly changed over the past few years, it continues to develop even further with the passage of time. This rapid progression allows suppliers to operate and deal with clients in a more effective and efficient manner across the board. In some ways, the changes and recent developments we have seen in the supply chain can be credited to the effort for progression and the never-ending passion for innovation. As is necessary for all industries today, the knowledge of future supply chain technologies can help organizations streamline their future plans and enter the coming years in a planned manner as pioneers of the game, rather than as mere followers.

Some of the trends that organizations can expect in the nearby future include:

Technology Across Supply Chain Teams

The future of supply chain goes hand in hand with the development of technology. From enhanced collaboration between teams to better synergy across the supply chain, we can expect technology to improve communication and collaboration across teams.

Smarter Warehouses

This is something we study in grave detail within our course manual. Smart warehouses form the future of the supply chain and IoT is leading the way forward with gradual technological progressions. The use of IoT in the supply chain allows businesses to become a lot more profitable and goal-oriented than they currently are. Smarter tech solutions in the warehouse also allow businesses to implement futuristic solutions based on innovative ideas. These solutions help improve processes involved with the loading and off-loading of goods from suppliers. Warehouse solutions also make it easier to track inventory and manage any shortfall properly.

Customization in the Supply Chain

Technology will most definitely initiate the trend of customization across the supply chain. Customization in its true form can lead to great value in customers and can also help a supply chain reach broader corners of the world. Companies deal with a wide variety of customers, where each individual brings their own unique needs and demographics to the table. Customization in the supply chain can hence lead to better mapping and need fulfillment.

Better Supplier Relationships

Future tech solutions are bound to bring a massive improvement in the relationships most organizations enjoy with their suppliers. Suppliers are an integral part of the supply chain, which is why it is highly necessary for businesses to maintain decent relationships with them. Tech solutions can enhance collaboration with suppliers and can help businesses understand and work on their needs.

Integration of Supply Chain in Other Operations

The use of tech solutions in the supply chain will further optimize the contact between supply chains and other operations. Technology will stop the formation of silos and will ensure that everyone is on board before key supply chain decisions are taken. Additionally, from marketing to finance, procurement and administration – all departments will be part of the consultation and management procedure to improve supply chain standards.

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Blockchain Technology as the Future of Supply Chains

Blockchain technology is the trending technology today and hosts the potential to disrupt and positively impact the supply chain in ways more than one. Blockchain technology is a set of distributed ledgers, built and shared across a network of peer-to-peer cells. A single blockchain contains a record of significant data, which is stored on a single block with a unique participant’s node. Each block on the chain corresponds to a unique time stamp record that verifies the creation and presence of the block. The time stamped record is secured via a public cryptography key. The blockchain centrally limits and eliminates the need for businesses and managers to work with a trusted central entity. As blocks come chained with their hash codes, all information present on the blockchain is considered immutable.

The blockchain can easily execute and finalize computation logic through the creation of smart contracts or chain codes. A smart contract is a trusted bit of information that is encrypted and installed on every node of the chain. Blocks in the chain are divided on the basis of permission-less or permissioned blockchains. The access rights for these chains are different. Both types of chains can either be private or accessible to the public, based on the owners of the infrastructure and the data sources. While permission-less blockchains are easily accessible by all people on the internet, permissioned blockchains are private and require users to register and be approved by a network administrator before they can access the files within.

While blockchain technology does enforce a substantial amount of transparency, users can still benefit from pseudonyms. The pseudonyms in transactions allow users to settle transactions between alphanumeric addresses exceeding 30 characters. While blockchain technology is confused with bitcoins and is known to be directly related to cryptocurrency, many users fail to see the other purposes it hosts. Blockchain technology is not restricted to the world of bitcoins, or any other asset for that matter. Users can secure both, their tangible and intangible assets, through the increased productivity and facilities on offer on the servers. Any asset that entails any value can easily be transferred onto and off the ledger. All such assets are digitally represented by the name of a ‘token’ on the blockchain ledger.

While blockchain is known to be a general-purpose technology with enhanced security and a productivity booster, many authors and researchers argue that it will change industrial organizations across the globe. Davidson et al even argued that blockchain hosts the potential to foster economic coordination and help collaboration.

Linking Supply Chain Management with Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology provides a number of key features that can eventually enhance collaboration between all members of a supply chain. These features include:

1. Transparency
2. Validation
3. Automation
4. Tokenization

Transparency relates to the availability of information across the blockchain for all users of a certain chain. The shared ledger is aggregated from a number of different sources and can include all participants of the supply chain. All these participants come together to draft an excellent input of shared information.

Validation is achieved through consensus-based verification and the immutability of records. Information is validated across the supply chain and relevant action is taken to source from validated and verified information.

Automation comes into the picture through the ability of supply chain partners to execute smart contracts from the verified information present on the blockchain. The verified information is referenced automatically, and lasting contracts are created based on what’s entailed within these documents.

Tokenization Blockchain technology also allows tokenization through the creation of tokens that represent specific claims on valuable assets shared between all members of the blockchain. Based on all four of these key features offered by BCT, organizations are able to build and enhance the abilities of their supply chain.

Enhanced Supply Chain Visibility

Poor end to end visibility and transparency is one of the leading causes of inefficiencies in the supply chain. These inefficiencies, and a lack of proper communication, lead to what is popularly known as the bullwhip effect. Blockchain technology allows supply chain businesses to share real time information about the status and location of an object between two partners of the supply chain. The product could either be shipping between a supplier and manufacturer or in the process of being shipped by a manufacturer to a retailer. In any case, the use of blockchain technology can help businesses streamline their operations and maintain positive contact between each-other at all times.

With the extreme convenience of internet of things or IoT and sensor technology promised by AI, all measurable conditions such as the temperature and condition of the product can be tracked across all facets of the supply chain. The enhanced data security allows businesses to improve their data accuracy and to also collaborate with other stakeholders to find the best fit possible.

Supply Chain Integrity

Blockchain Technology or BCT allows businesses to track objects back to where they come from and unearth their origins. BCT gives all kinds of organizations the opportunity to go back in the supply chain through a ledger of immutable and transparent records to find the origin of all assets and materials in the manufacturing process.

The ability to track the origins of products back in time gives businesses an exciting opportunity to certify the authenticity of assets and the processes that were used on them during the manufacturing process. This entire process helps enforce the idea of responsible sourcing, during which supply chain managers and business owners are extremely careful of where they source their goods from. Additionally, sourcing and procurement managers would be even more wary of finding and preventing any fraudulent activities during the sourcing process. Applications centered on BCT can not only help track the origins of products during their time in the chain but can also go back in time to trace asset ownership after the sale has been made. This can come in handy to provide after sales services and also to ensure warranty. BCT enhances the integrity of a supply chain as well by confirming the validity and authenticity of documents and processes inside the chain. These legal clearances include clearances for freight by customs and other minor clearances that are often ignored by supply chains.

Supply Chain Orchestration

By combining the automation of smart contracts with the transparency and validation of BCT, businesses get to encounter and operate a highly orchestrated and managed supply chain that works on pre-specified principles and rules. This immensely helps increase the speed and eases the coordination of information and other corresponding decisions between partners involved in the supply chain. BCT and the impact AI has had on it allow businesses to work with as little downtime as possible. In the case of a machine failure, the machine can effectively order the given spare parts from a supplier, inform downstream parties in the process and request a maintenance service, all on its own. Obviously, these decisions are based on data and can be trusted just as much as the word of an experienced repairman.

Supply Chain Virtualization

Virtualization is a well-known and popular approach taken by supply chains in IT infrastructure and systems management. The virtualization approach helps improve the flexibility and utilization of all IT assets inside the organization, helping businesses achieve the most from the amount they’ve invested into their IT systems. Supply chains can tokenize the physical assets involved across the process and can maintain a list of technical equipment and inventories. Shifting the acquisition/sale process of IT assets to BCT has a number of positive benefits for businesses today. All orders should be issued in the form of tokens and should be circulated across the chain. The virtualization of IT assets would allow businesses to fully utilize all capital assets in the supply chain and help them monetize their returns. Virtualization also comes with the capability to increase the flexibility of a supply chain and reduce the risks in general.

Supply Chain Finance

The BCT comes as a natural fit when it comes to supporting financial interactions and transactions in a typical supply chain. The close tie BCT has enjoyed with cryptocurrencies makes it ideal for maintaining and upholding financial records. By incorporating blockchain technology in the financial management process of the supply chain, businesses can reach settlements on multi-tier transactions faster than before. Secondly, the records are clearly validated and tokenized on the blockchain. This allows and helps businesses reduce transaction costs and the financial costs they bear in full. Blockchain technology promises a lot of potential for supply chains over the globe and can well be the technological advancement of the future.

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Challenges with Blockchain Implementation

Blockchain implementation does not come free of risk and carries a few challenges of its own. Some of these challenges and risks include:

Failure to Secure Support From Top Management

This is by far one of the most common problems faced by global supply chains today when they look to incorporate blockchain technology into their processes. Since supply chain processes have a serious impact on the objectives and finances of an organization, it is necessary for businesses to acquire sponsorship and leadership from the top management. C-level executives from the top management can run the value-chain, sponsor projects, drive enterprise-wide accountability, achieve cross-departmental and cross-functional commitment and also allocate proper resources to insure the successful implementation of technology. One tried and trusted solution here is to create an executive steering committee that ensures the perfect allocation of resources and ensures that all obstacles in the path to proper implementation are removed.

Wrong Process or Practice

Organizations need to get their homework done before they initiate the blockchain implementation process across the supply chain. Prior to the start of the implementation process, it is critical for companies to initiate and conduct research toward the right processes and methods. The new technology should be supported with the right processes. A successful way to approach the technology revamp is to talk with other businesses that have successfully applied the technology within their supply chains. Many supply chain providers have incorporated relevant operation management systems in their organizations and will be willing to tell you all about the processes you should and shouldn’t follow.

Inaccurate Information

Timely data and accurate information are responsible for the success of almost all supply chains. Supply chains succeed due to their ability to provide accurate information across the board for members to benefit and learn from. Many of the initial benefits that come with supply chain technology automation will be neutered through the presence of inaccurate and untimely data on your systems. Hence, before you integrate a new software process into your supply chain, you should ensure that the data related to that application is clean and structured in all possible ways.

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Limiting Digital Waste Through Industry 4.0

Digital waste is a major cause of concern for businesses today. The presence of this waste across the supply chain can reduce efficiency and lead to other problems of a similar nature. Digital waste can easily be found across multiple supply chains today. To understand how digital waste limits the potential of technology in supply chain 4.0, let us first take a look at these sources of waste. Digital waste can be categorized into three classes, including:

Data Capturing and Management:

The data available to businesses today is often handled manually, and not updated in a regular manner. Data collection is also handled through a paper-based method centered on reducing costs and ensuring profitability. Data that isn’t updated regularly or not at all includes the master data collected on supplier lead times. This data, once entered, remains unchanged for a significant period of time. Based on these mundane and inconsistent data management techniques, businesses are unable to implement a decent strategy for acquiring and transmitting data. If the lead time of a supplier is continuously increasing, warnings should be sent to them in an automated manner. However, with the processes of today, the signal for increasing lead times will not be recognized and the supplier will keep delivering goods in their own sweet manner, without regards for the delays experienced in the cycle due to their negligence.

Integrated Process Optimization

Many companies today have implemented an integrated process for planning. This planning process works through silos and leverages information to achieve the best possible planning results. The use of digitalization for planning forecasts is often manually overwritten by planners in and around the optimization process. This holds especially true for parts moving at a high or medium speed.

Physical Process Execution

Assembly, warehousing, transport management and line replenishment today are based on gut feelings than results generated through the use of actual digital tools. Warehouse operations are managed through batches of one to two hours, reducing the efficiency of real-time allocation processes and the dynamic routing that comes along with them. Also, this limits the efficiency of opportunities coming through wearable items such as Google Glass. Supply chain 4.0 holds the ability to impact a number of areas in the supply chain management process. These digital wastes can be minimized through better management and a more strategic reliance on data generated through digital tools.

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Transformation Into a Digital Supply Chain

Having studied the characteristics of all future supply chain trends, and the drivers taking us toward it, we finish this intro with a look at how organizations can digitally transform their supply chains. The transformation into a digital and more automated supply chain require both, the environment and capabilities. Capabilities regarding the digitization process should be embedded within the organization. They also require the targeted recruitment of specialized professionals. The second key enabler is implementation of a digital architecture across the organization. This suggests that while an IT landscape needs to be established, businesses need to set up a culture of innovation and digital dependency in their supply chain. Workers should be given organizational freedom and should also be given time to learn and understand the systems they’re working on. A culture of innovation, creativity and incubation is what will help organizations sow the seed of a fast, flexible and efficient future in Supply Chain 4.0.

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Competitive Advantage Through a Technology Oriented Supply Chain

Information and Communication Technology systems offer a genuine opportunity for businesses to achieve competitive advantage, as it helps businesses share information across the supply chain with all partners. Information is one of the most important aspects in a global supply chain and when utilized properly, can help supply chains improve their efficiency and glean out any errors that are limiting progress. The data compiled and reworked through ICT systems can help in the generation of new revenue streams focused on new products and services. The data and its analysis ensure optimal flexibility and operational prowess. The data also helps guide managerial decisions and improves business processes not limited to the supply chain alone. The growing adoption of ICT systems and the collaboration they offer will surely enable supply chains to enhance their efficiency and to achieve competitive advantage through supply chain integrated software. Such software operation is primarily based on information generated from within the supply chain and helps provide a platform for all stakeholders to access that information and make informed decisions based on it.

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Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Drivers of Technology in Global Supply Chain

Traditional supply chains are being challenged by the geo-political and socioeconomic developments around us today. From the development of economic activities oriented to the needs of different countries and economies, to the globalization of services, uni-polar global order, economic liberalization and hefty advancements in the transportation and communication technology around us, the supply chain around us is changing. These changes have resulted in a need for businesses to not only upgrade their existing services and standards of the supply chain, but to also get their act together and ensure optimal delivery of goods to customers in reduced lead times.

Global supply chain has for ages been managed through effective sourcing of goods and resources. Organizations source their raw materials production, sales and marketing and research and development activities in geographically distant locations, from indigenous firms, local to the area. However, efficiency is often compromised in this process, which has led global players to optimizing the efficiencies and cost effectiveness of their SCM functions. Such organizational focus and effort into optimizing the efficiencies of the supply chain has led to constant progress in technology. Modern firms are prioritizing the importance of supply chain processes and are using technology to complete roles that are otherwise hard for organizations to manage.

This chapter will look at some of these supply chain management technologies and discuss the drivers motivating this change forward. By the end of it you should be able to recognize and understand the importance of separate drivers in supply chain processes and how they impact it.

Starting with an Introduction to Technology in SCM

According to findings from recent studies, technology has amalgamated with the global supply chain process in a gradual manner. The transformation isn’t yet complete, but we’re slowly and gradually edging towards it. The initiation of this wave of technology in supply chain started with actions like computerized tracking, electronic invoicing, and automated notifications, before moving on to a number of diverse applications across industries. The incorporation of new and advanced technologies in SCM is driven by a number of diverse forces. We will look at these drivers in greater detail within the rest of the chapter, but to name a few, greater demand for efficiency, intensification of competition and increasing customer expectations are some of the reasons motivating this change.

It is also necessary to appreciate the role contemporary technology has played in improving supply chain performance. Contemporary technology comes with extensive capabilities with regards to correction of mistakes, increase in efficiency and the assurance of better modifications. With the growing technological influence of today, almost each and every facet of a supply chain can be concurrently managed and improved through the automated notification systems present inside. Numerous trends and technologies are also impacting supply chain operations, not limited to production, distribution, retail and services. These trends include:

1. The need for comprehensive connectivity across the board.
2. Speech recognition for better services and enhancement of operations.
3. Integration of Voice and GPS communication into the rugged computers of today.
4. Digital imaging services.
5. Portable printing on the go.
6. Bar coding advances and improvements.
7. Wireless device security for remote operations.
8. And better remote management.

As the supply chain becomes global and remote, it is highly necessary that organizations come up with ways to improve the monitoring of key processes and kick out all minor knick knacks. Software operations and cloud computing have also significantly improved material and product tracking across the board. These tracking measures ensure that real time updates are available to managers and other stakeholders. Real time updates could either come from another corner of the world or through a related source. Many retailers and supply chain stakeholders have incorporated technology within their processes to good effect. It is also important to appreciate how the introduction of newer and more advanced technologies has resulted in major alterations within the conduct of SCM functions. Warehouse management is one such function that has drastically improved with time and is now more efficient than it ever was.

Mention of Drivers Influencing the Tech Revolution

Almost all supply chain capabilities are honed through the decisions taken with regards to the five important supply chain drivers. Each of these drivers comes with specific capabilities to develop either efficiency or responsiveness, based on the business objectives of the company. As we study how a supply chain works, we come across certain demands that it faces and the capabilities that it needs to become successful. The drivers discussed in the chapter include:

Production
Production is one of the drivers changing supply chain trends and technology. The production of goods is by far one of the most primary factors influencing the success of a supply chain. Companies can extensively alter production methods to incorporate new techniques and technologies into the process.

Inventory
Organizations looking to achieve a responsive supply chain stack up on inventory, including raw materials and work in process goods, across different facilities located close to their customers. The excess inventory is then used as a buffer for ensuring optimal production and delivery to the relevant stakeholders. Efficiency in inventory management can be achieved by reducing inventory levels, especially of products and items that do not sell as easily. The extra stock you hold comes with a number of costs of its own. Holding excess stock isn’t cheap as you need to invest heavily in storage and maintenance of the stock. All damages suffered during this period will haunt you in the long run.

Location
Responsiveness can be achieved by buying prime land close to the customers, for factory operations. This prime land, however, will cost a lot more than what it would cost you to centralize your production around the outskirts. Centralizing your production to a centralized location, again, might achieve efficiency through cost savings, but will harm you through reduced responsiveness and transportation costs and damages. The need to add responsiveness to the already efficient process of a centralized factory location is what drives technology adoption in the workplace. Organizations want to be connected at all hours, so that they can monitor transportation and also ensure the minimization of damages in transit. Technology ensures that goods are monitored, schedules are followed and damages minimized. This will lead us to the next factor of transportation.

Transportation
Transportation is another important factor driving the adoption of technology in supply chain processes. Transportation of goods is necessary for a fast and flexible customer experience, where customer value is ensured and the products you manufacture are made available in time.

Information
Much like money, information is developing as a very useful commodity in this age of data. With our dependence on technology, information is what you feed into AI and Big Data systems. Take predictive maintenance for instance. This AI run program gathers and analyzes information from production machines in your factory, from transportation trucks and machines in the transportation process and uses the information to decide the appropriate time and requirement for maintenance. So, instead of machines shutting down over time and leading to significant downtime, the information provided by these machines is utilized by an AI machine to generate specific output on when predictive maintenance is required.

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Chapter 2: IT Implementation in Global Supply Chain Management

The addition of technology to SCM processes can help companies distinguish their presence from that of their competitors. From our reasoning in the previous chapter, you will now understand that organizations employing technology are more efficient and responsive than others that don’t. Many Small and Medium Enterprises and other players in the global supply chain find differences between the requirements of the customer supply chain and the tech capabilities they have. This inherent gap can lead to drop in qualities, efficiencies and a lot more.

A Brief Look at Current IT Communication Resources

The internet definitely is one of the most substantial tools for enabling substantial and gradual improvements across the supply chain. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the internet today is easy communication across borders. The internet offers all SMEs an opportunity to exchange information securely and easily in their role as manufacturers, suppliers and even customers. The communication model offered by the internet has saved businesses and supply chain stakeholders 18 percent to 45 percent of their total costs. These costs are saved through the means of faster order placement, reduced transactional errors, more accurate pricing and the faster delivery of goods to concerned parties. The implementation of IT systems may require heavy investments in data modeling, data protocols, knowledge base systems and data warehousing. Besides just the investment through money, organizations also need to be prepared for cultural changes that might occur as a result of these changes.

Our Take at Information Management in the Digital Age
It is necessary for businesses to use information in order to retain control over not just processes, but the goods themselves as well. Having transparency and full knowledge over the sourcing and transportation of goods can come in handy during all future events. Supply chain management data sharing and modeling can help you pull out defective items and track defect rates. This can save a number of headaches and improve your understanding of the situation. Information is crucial to the performance of a supply chain as it gives managers and stakeholders the basis to make decisions. Information technology or IT consists of actionable tools used to gain awareness of the surroundings. According to our analytics and studies, information can assist in the following core functions of a supply chain:

Real-Time Data Sharing and Processing
The sharing and processing of supply chain data is directly related to various environmental factors, customer demand, partner strategies and even the supply levels coming your way. Transparency is a major point of contention in a supply chain. There are numerous factors you need to analyze and agree on before approving or recommending them. For instance, when optimizing or implementing a new delivery route, you have to consider the time it will take to travel to and fro each destination, the starting point of the route, the drop-off point where the route concludes, the timeline for certain events and even external factors such as traffic and weather.

Managing External Factors with Data
Continuing from where we left off in the previous section, seamless logistics can be achieved by dealing with all kinds of circumstances and situations that happen as a result of external factors that are outside your realm of control. For instance, the socio-cultural changes in a supplier’s country can not only destroy performance but can also hinder your timelines. Furthermore, massive shifts in consumer demand for totally unrelated reasons can put your supply chain in a spot of bother, especially if you haven’t prepared for the negative demand curve. Big data solutions can come in handy here, as they organize and prepare data related to all external factors as well. You can use the actionable insights generated by these systems to determine just how they impact your productivity and performance.

Inventory Planning and Optimization
This process is more about maintaining automation than running manual checks on deliveries. Big data solutions can significantly enhance information sharing to help and facilitate the process of inventory information. This can help while ordering new items when and where they are needed, shipping out orders and dealing with supply processes. Let us imagine a manufacturer who develops a product that takes more than five months to manufacture. A big data system will take everything from product manufacturing and demand into consideration before suggesting an appropriate timeline for next order placement. This allows processes and things to run optimally without any flaws or impediments.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
The presence of real time information systems can also lead to more nuanced advancements in the way things operate within an organization and in a typical supply chain. While information sharing systems improve the efficiency of the supply chain in general, they also help improve the customer experience as a whole. Customers feel more satisfaction and are able to perform better over time.

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Chapter 3: Drivers of the Digital Supply Chain

Researchers recently worked on a study including over 337 executives from retail organizations and global manufacturing firms from over 20 countries across North America and Europe. The research was meant to find out the impact of digital disruption across supply chain processes. The impact was considered in both, present and future scenarios. The survey found that more than 50 percent of all executives consider digital transformation to be important. This number goes up to a whopping 75 percent when it comes to executives that think this transformation is at least ‘important’ for the supply chain sector. Although a comfortable majority thinks of the supply chain as important, more than 30 percent of all executives believed they were unhappy or dissatisfied with the progress they had made toward accepting or embracing the digital change.

The primary factor behind this ubiquitous dissatisfaction was similar for many businesses, as they cited the failure to use and identify drivers influencing this change. Many of these executives do envision tremendous growth over the coming 5 to 10 years, but that is also dependent on their understanding of the process. From the findings of this survey and a general assessment of the supply chain market today, we can tell that organizations face complications with regards to the implementation of digital technology. The drivers for a digital supply chain are unknown and the trends motivating these factors forward have escaped many of these stakeholders.

A Study of All Key Drivers

Adoption of Cloud Based Software
Supply chains can achieve cloud adoption in its truest form by engaging in the practice of using remote cloud servers on the Internet to store, process and manage critical data on a real-time basis. Hybrid cloud computing is a recent innovation in the world of cloud and is the go-to option for supply chain providers.

As cloud adoption and the benefits that it offers grow, global supply chain players are coming out in numbers to implement the change and incorporate it within their culture.

Supply chain executives can lead their transition to the cloud with an eye on the following critical steps:

1. Assessment: All IT decision makers and executives need to assess the challenges and opportunities of moving to the cloud. In addition to taking notes and inspiration from popular vendors/business leaders, organizations should consider the financial challenges of the process.

2. Planning: Once organizations perform their research and run their assessment they have to move toward the more complex task of employing a cloud computing strategy in their market. This is where an organization should decide between public, private and hybrid clouds.

3. Adoption: The adoption phase is the trickiest of the lot and deals with risk mitigation and performance enhancement strategies. Managers should develop an enhanced understanding of their data stores, servers and software for future scalability and reiteration of the strategy.

4. Optimization: IT departments should meet regularly with executive teams to form and sustain a long-term strategy. The new and improved solutions created here can go a long way in optimizing performance.

Influencing Decision Making With Data
One of the greatest benefits expected as a result of the data revolution of today is greater visibility. Most businesses are unable to recognize problems and let them slip away without taking any concrete measures to stop the damage before it is too late. Greater visibility will also enable organizations to respond in a better way to increased demand and achieve more profitable and leaner operations through the creation of enough goods.

Agility and Flexibility
Organizations today have to choose between the ideal outcomes of efficiency and responsiveness. An agile and flexible supply chain allows businesses to get the best of both worlds and enjoy enhanced responsiveness, without losing out on efficiency. In fact, the digital supply chain is a reality today because of the growing agility and flexibility shown by organizations in day-to-day operations – flexibility that they didn’t show a few years back.

Revamping Business Processes
One of the primary pain points for executives in the supply chain industry today is the growing trend of new-comers relying on technology for success. New entrants in the market aren’t afraid of trying out different technologies and realms to further their cause. This acts as a threat for current market leaders, who have to revamp processes and think of alternatives to counter this growing impact.

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Chapter 4: Critical Analysis of Technology in Supply Chain

With the recent development of IT in supply chain management, the concepts of supply chain management and design have become even clearer. The complexity of global supply chain management has worked as a major driver toward the incorporation of online communication systems and other instances of technology in supply chain. The internet has significantly enhanced the richness and efficiency of communications on offer to customers today. With instant messaging and communication on the cards, businesses can easily interact with each other and enhance the communication on offer. This change is based off an evolution in the supply chain toward the development and integration of online business communities. Supply chain management puts special emphasis on the long-term benefits and cooperation of all parties involved in the supply chain process. This benefit is reaped through information sharing of the highest order. The variables involved in order placement and delivery are better communicated through an elaborate and detailed supply chain methodology.

Studying Impact of IT on Procurement and Purchasing

The recent trends and usage patterns suggest that IT has significantly been utilized in a number of procurement applications, including communications with vendors, checking price quotes given by vendors and for making purchases from vendor catalogs. The options provided in a catalog and the pricing quotes given to a supply chain provider can be optimized through the incorporation and addition of technology to the process. Negotiations held with vendors have also improved as a result of IT in procurement and purchasing. Where face-to-face negotiations were the norm back in the day, they have now been replaced with far more efficient and cost-effective options for organizations to place their bets on.

Studying Impact of IT on Operations

One of the most popular and strategic uses of information technology in operations and inventory management comes in the communication of stock-outs and diminishing stock levels to vendors by firms. Additionally, information technology has also revolutionized and improved the way stock-outs are communicated to customers by these firms. Both parties need to be provided essential information related to the stock-outs, so that appropriate action can be taken at the right ends. With the right communication methods and the appropriate use of technology in this department, organizations can minimize the downtime caused by a stock-out.

Studying Impact of IT on Logistics

Based on user experience, the monitoring and regulation of pickups by carriers at regional distribution centers is the most significant area of implementation for IT in the transport sector. The use of technology here is also of particular interest for businesses, as it helps generate data on the efficiency and reliability of the carrier service being used currently. Tracking shipments from regional depots to customers is a primary responsibility of managers in the supply chain process, and if this task is being handed over to carrier services, proper resources need to be in place to check efficiency, delivery times and consistency.

Studying Impact of IT on Vendor Relationships

Trust is a major factor in any organizational relationship fostered by a player in the supply chain industry. Trust plays a key role, and IT services and programs help facilitate that trust and improve it to offer a wide range of amazing benefits. Trust exists between two parties, when both of them believe in the reliability of the other and are sure that their performance and order strategy is consistent and can be trusted. Management literature has focused significantly on the presence of trust in supply chain operations, and how technology has further boosted that. The need for trust and cooperation between key stakeholders in the supply chain industry is an essential element of these relationships and the technology used between vendors and clients.

Studying Impact of IT on Firms

Organizations with bigger employee size and structure have incorporated IT programs in a more significant manner than other organizations that do not have such developed protocols and systems. When measured by the number of employees working in the firm, organizations with more employees were more likely to use information technology for communicating with employees and workers indoors and to also communicate with customers on the current order status and expected delivery. IT solutions have also been used by larger firms to manage customer service functions and to make interactions and engagement with customers easy to manage for all those involved.

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Chapter 5: The Role of Futuristic Applications in Supply Chain

Supply chain managers will remember the failures that have resulted through tech implementation. Some technological advances in the world of supply chain have created a lot more problems than they have solved for supply chain managers. MRP or manufacturing resource planning systems along with RFID radio-frequency identification tags are the two most successful use cases of technology in supply chain, but even these advancements came with their own demons. For instance, MRP systems promised a world of fully automated solutions and scheduling to supply chain managers. Scheduling is one of the more complex tasks of supply chain management, and all forms of automation in this regard were welcomed with open arms. Where customers did benefit from MRP systems, they also had to deal with the inflexible approach they came with out of the box. These systems never really adjusted to volatilities and uncertainties in the real world, where suppliers fail to deliver, customers change their mind at the last moment and machines break down all of a sudden. Even with the high influx of supply chain technologies, there are areas where innovations are ripe and can benefit the entire global supply chain as a whole:

Robotics

Innovation from the world of manufacturing is spilling over to the supply chain industry as well, as robotics solutions hold the momentum to disrupt warehouse operations. While manufacturers of transportation machineries such as forklift trucks have added automation and labor-less handling procedures to their products, robotics companies are also looking for ways to add labor to the process. Automation systems today are more capable than they ever were. Most fast picking warehouse systems have the capabilities to pick over 1,000 to 2,400 products per hour. The advanced vision technology within modern robotics also allows machines to pick up products from disoriented positions. While these robots are in place with mail-order picking and pharmaceutical industries, research is still underway to help these machines reach near-human levels of adaptability and performance.

Better Visibility

End-to-end visibility through real time software operations and analytics allows supply chain manufacturers to build and maintain their business processes. Custom software solutions allow organizations to track each and every part of the supply chain and also give them a chance to minimize any delays and downtimes they possibly have during this process. Such end-to-end apps can also help with stock management as they prepare businesses for possible stock-outs and prepare replenishment requests based on what works best for them and the suppliers.

On-Demand Delivery

Ride-hailing systems are strategically changing the way organizations approach and discuss last-minute deliveries. Customers in many sectors expect same-day delivery and service and living up to these expectations is only made possible through this technology. These systems work on accurate software configurations behind the scenes and act as a medium of transportation efficiency across businesses. Supply chain technologies are in an exciting phase today and there is a lot being said and done about the potential these technologies currently host. Companies need to sit down and discuss the right solutions with stakeholders. Each solution solves a relevant business problem, and the gravity of the problem sets the budget you spend on finishing or mitigating it. The solutions mentioned in this chapter form the future of supply chain technology and will be in greater demand over the time to come.

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Chapter 6: Technology Benchmarking in Supply Chain

In previous coursework, we have studied SCOR as one of the best methods for benchmarking in the supply chain. The Supply Chains Operation Reference or SCOR is the first industrial framework in place for improving and evaluating enterprise-wide management and performance through the use of measurement and comparison tools. The process provides a standard path, definitions, terminology and other metrics that help organizations measure their performance and benchmark or compare it against that of other providers. The results of this process can eventually help the business grow exponentially and make real progress. The metrics used in benchmarking include key areas such as delivery performance, production flexibility, cash-to-cash cycle time and order fulfillment. Benchmarking processes have helped organizations identify their financial and operating advantages over competitors in their respective industry or group. Following the basic principles of benchmarking and the process of recording information in a coherent and cohesive manner, organizations today can also record their tech advancements. Top performers in tech benchmarking have a clear strategy as far as IT incorporation is concerned and have closely aligned their tech advancements and business objectives with customer requirements from major clients.

Studying the Communicative Benchmarking Standards in a Supply Chain

In this chapter we start by studying the communicative benchmarking standards to be followed in a supply chain. Technology has assisted businesses in improving the quality of services they offer and helped them become more competitive over time. The collaboration now involved across supply chains has laid down the building blocks for a brighter future. The development of a collaborative benchmarking tool is still pretty much in its nascent stage. One of the reasons behind this inability of businesses to adapt to the changing trends is the lack of a robust and authentic performance measurement system for collaboration. A measurement system would help all partners involved in a supply chain understand the changes that are required in the collaboration process and the gravity of these changes in line with the business objectives of the organization. By identifying areas that need improvement, organizations can help set a significant standard of collaboration across the board.

There have been multiple studies that propose and promote the concept of collaborative benchmarking in the supply chain. These studies (Poirier, 1992; Polese, 2002) focus on and acknowledge the importance of implementing best practices across the board. Perhaps the most critical issue in building a collaborative relationship is the commitment shown by all participating members toward accelerating improvements that contribute to individual and company gains. This commitment can vary from partner to partner based on a number of influencing factors. Previous research on this subject matter has proven that the commitment to improve and collaborate effectively in a supply chain network is based on the performance metrics selected for growth and development. Performance metrics encourage collaboration in participating stakeholders and give them a chance to be involved in a more thorough and accurate manner.

Identifying the Enablers of Collaborative Benchmarking

Collaborative benchmarking achieved through the implementation of IT needs to go beyond the metrical benchmarking of critical drive performance metrics and process enablers. Through this way, the performance gap analysis will eventually help provide real time insights and foundations to contribute toward the positive enhancement of the supply chain. All members of the supply chain should know how to tie performance metrics with collaborative enablers. The clear link between enablers and performance metrics gives supply chains a chance to eliminate and cut down on gaps. Three collaborative enablers can come in handy here, as they reflect the intensity of operational interfaces among all the participating members. These enablers include information sharing, incentive alignment and decision synchronization. Collaborative enablers typically drive and dictate the amount of action it takes to steer the performance of a supply chain forward. Even a typical collaborative performance system or CPS requires the assistance of collaborative enablers to help the improvement process.

Enabling Collaboration Through Synchronized Decisions
Decision synchronization can be judged and measured through the response of chain members toward the task of fulfilling customer demand and enhancing the profitability of the supply chain. Decision support systems and virtual discussion forums can enhance the efficiency of synchronization of decisions across the firm. The use of an alert system can also generate real-time output and helps generate mutual interest.

Enabling Collaboration Through Information Sharing
Information sharing standards ensure that all participants in the supply chain are able to utilize the information given to them and are able to use that information to reduce cycle times and increase growth. Information sharing can improve the fulfillment of customer demand, as proper information sharing and collaboration can allow businesses to re-stock shelves at a retailer’s outlet within no time. Additionally, delivery lead time can also be reduced through proper information sharing, as businesses are in touch with each other throughout the process and are communicating the product requirements. Information sharing also generally assists with the decision making process. The availability of integral information can help businesses make informed decisions related to the business. Demand and inventory visibility can help completely eliminate stock-outs and also alert organizations to reduce manufacturing speed for products that aren’t selling.

Enabling Collaboration by Aligning Incentives With Objectives
Incentive alignment refers to the process of sharing benefits, risks and costs among all members of a supply chain. This collaboration scheme enhances communication and motivates all members to act consistently with the mutual objectives on offer. Private information is also shared across the supply chain here, as primary stakeholders realize what is at stake. The incentive alignment program places incentive and perk schemes such as pay-for-performance on the same pedestal for mutual result generation across the supply chain.

All three enablers are discussed in greater detail within this chapter.

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Chapter 7: Risks and Challenges of Integrating Supply Chain Management Software

Multiple types of supply chain management tools exist in the market today that come with their own features and applications. These tools assist in a number of features, and also come with certain challenges that should be tackled before proper implementation across the board. The features offered by SCM software operations include:

Order Management:
Software solutions can help with automating the order processing and management process. For instance, these solutions generate and track all purchase orders, schedule supplier deliveries and set the required pricing based on product configurations.

Inventory Management:
Supply chain tech solutions help with inventory management, as they track and manage the availability of raw materials for manufacturing. The inventory management solutions provided here can also come in handy with barcode integration, asset management and future price forecasting.

Logistics and Shipment Monitoring:
Coordination across transportation channels is necessary for businesses today, and supply chain software solutions can help with that. The enhanced monitoring standard can boost customer satisfaction and enhance delivery performance. Warehouse management is also included here.

Forecasting:
Forecasting demand, anticipating customers and planning all production and procurement processes accordingly is the need of the hour in future-oriented supply chains today. Efficient forecasting can limit the need to store excess goods or meet indefinite downtimes due to stock-outs.

Return Management:
Return management works for the inspection and handling of faulty or damaged goods and can come in handy for processing insurance claims and refunds.

Challenges in Software Implementation

Some of the challenges that most businesses face during global supply chain management software integration include:

Limited or No Cross-Functional Representation
Organizations should deploy a broad team empowered enough to make planning and implementation decisions on their own. The presence of all teams on board will ensure successful supply chain deployment and routine improvements over time. This team should comprise of the ultimate stakeholders who use the new technology and the secondary users that will benefit through the flow and information processing.

Inaccurate Information
Timely data and accurate information are responsible for the success of almost all supply chains. Supply chains succeed due to their ability to provide accurate information across the board for members to benefit and learn from. Many of the initial benefits that come with supply chain technology automation will be neutered through the presence of inaccurate and untimely data on your systems. Hence, before you integrate a new software process into your supply chain, you should ensure that the data related to that application is clean and structured in all possible ways.

Securing Support From Top Management
C-level executives from the top management can run the value-chain, sponsor projects, drive enterprise-wide accountability, achieve cross-departmental and cross-functional commitment and also allocate proper resources to insure the successful implementation of technology. One tried and trusted solution here is to create an executive steering committee than ensures the perfect allocation of resources and ensures that all obstacles in the path to proper implementation are removed. These challenges and others discussed in the manual can often restrict the path to success for an organization.

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Chapter 8: Technology and Green Supply Chain Management

The growing concern in the global market for green issues, and the debilitating impact that traditional measures have on the ecosystem and the environment around us, have led to the widespread implementation of green supply chain and the rise in technologies that approach this subject matter. Executives today view supply chain measures in a green light and are looking to cut down on measures that can impact or reduce the ability of certain natural processes in our ecosystem. While big names are utilizing these opportunities to go green, many other companies are still unaware of the cost savings that can be guaranteed as a result of picking up sustainable or green supply chain measures. In the process of reducing their environmental impact on the surroundings, organizations can also cut down on costs and enter a win-win scenario of sorts.

Despite the growing public focus, the environmental benefits on offer and the cost savings that businesses can benefit from, many supply chain executives aren’t prioritizing the move toward a greener supply chain with more sustainable practices that are best for all parties concerned. It generally appears that many supply chain executives are still unaware that improving the environmental performance of their businesses usually means lower waste disposal costs and training costs. These measures can also reduce material costs and put an end to environmental-permitting fees and standards. Hopes and predictions surrounding the green supply chain estimate that this curve will only go up as businesses and supply chain executives realize the benefits on offer.

Going Green With Supply Chain Technology

Circular Supply Chain
The circular supply chain is another recent innovation achieved as a result of efforts to streamline the supply chain process. The circular supply chain process usually takes waste materials from returned goods and turns them into solid goods that can then be resold to clients. The 3 Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle – come in handy here as they provide a way for the circular supply chain to develop and become common. The circular supply chain does not only reduce the costs and efforts of a business, but also saves businesses the time it takes to dispose returned goods.

No Paper-Trail
At their very basic level, almost all major supply chain technologies today are helping the supply chain move away from the traditional operating supply chains of the digital age. This allows supply chains to say goodbye to the physical paper-trail associated with shipments. All tracks and measures are maintained online, which is why organizations do not feel the need to maintain a complete set of paper records. Besides saving up on paper, these digitized processes also save time and effort. Maintaining records on computers through automatic programs and easily inputting procedures is a lot more convenient for businesses than it is to maintain records on paper.
We discuss a number of other ways for global supply chains to go green in our manual.

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Chapter 9: Industry 4.0 and Global Supply Chain

The introduction of industry 4.0 into the world of manufacturing has had a number of impacts on the global supply chain and logistics network. Industry 4.0 has shown a lot of promise toward enhancing collaboration between manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and customers. This collaboration between all parties of the supply chain is strategically important to increase the transparency of products from when they’re manufactured to when they’re placed on a shelf to be sold. Moreover, due to the additional introduction of digitalization and the ubiquitous automation of processes, we welcome a whole new supply chain management (SCM) structure today. The new technology does come with a number of opportunities and a few threats to the supply chain. In this chapter we present a preliminary analysis of the impact Industry 4.0 will have on supply chain management and look to delve deep into what the new technological advancements contain.

Computers were first introduced to the world through industry 3.0. When the third industrial revolution transpired, computers were considered to be a disruptive addition to the industries of yesteryear. With industry 4.0 upon us, businesses are preparing themselves for an enhanced environment of communication and collaboration, where they can buckle up and discuss ideas across the supply chain. These computers can generate real-time insights in the moment and work on them to generate output without any form of human input. This is a strategic improvement to what we have seen during Industry 3.0.

Smart factories form the core of Industry 4.0, as the revolution weaves its magic on different manufacturing processes to speed up the rate of products manufactured in a given time period. Industry 4.0 has become exceptionally useful for people today as a result of the support that smart machines and processes offer. Smart factories come with a number of smart machines that generate data in the moment. The reliance on data promises to make our factories even more efficient and less wasteful.

Creating a Better and Faster Supply Chain

Unlike popular belief, supply chain 4.0 is still pretty much work in progress. Industry 4.0 creates a massive disruption and forces organizations from across the globe to not only rethink, but also reconsider the way they’ve designed and continue to follow their supply chain. Several technologies, grouped under the banner of Industry 4.0, are altering the way organizations worked traditionally. On top of the technology available, customer expectations are also developing with time, and customers today require optimal delivery patterns without inefficiencies in the process. With rising expectations and the presence of tech assistance, the stage is ripe for supply chain providers to jump at the chance and implement strategic supply chain 4.0 networks in their processes. Digitization can bring about a change in the typical supply chain of today and allow businesses to have a supply chain that is built on the principles and highlights we have discussed in this chapter.

Studying All Drivers of Value for Supply Chain 4.0 Integration
Just like every other major revolution and infrastructure out there, there are a number of key value drivers propelling the implementation of supply chain 4.0 forward. All these drivers are highlighted in greater detail within this chapter.

Planning
Supply chain planning for the future will greatly benefit from the advanced analytics and big data planning of the future. The significance of supply chain 4.0 will be felt in the planning process through the use of closed loop planning and predictive analytics in demand planning.

Performance Management
Performance management systems can jump into the root causes of exceptions and compare them to other underlying indicators to leverage machine learning techniques and conduct big data analyses. The system will build countermeasures automatically to cover the root cause and to improve performance almost instantaneously.

Physical Flow of Goods
Logistics and transport of goods in the supply chain process will take huge steps forward through additive manufacturing, advanced analytics, better connectivity and enhanced automation of processes. For instance, when warehouses are fully automated, the supply chain will also see a rather drastic increase in the number of smart and autonomous vehicles used in the supply chain. The use of 3-D printing will also impact inventory management and warehousing strategies.

Other drivers have also been mentioned in the manual.

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Chapter 10: Linking Supply Chain Management with Blockchain Technology

Fundamentally and accurately put, blockchain technology is a set of distributed ledgers, built and shared across a network of peer-to-peer cells. A single blockchain contains a record of significant data, which is stored on a single block with a unique participant’s node. Each block on the chain corresponds to a unique time stamp record that verifies the creation and presence of the block. The time stamp record is secured via a public cryptography key. The blockchain centrally limits and eliminates the need for businesses and managers to work with a trusted central entity. As blocks come chained with their hash codes, all information present on the blockchain is considered immutable. The blockchain can easily execute and finalize computation logic through the creation of smart contracts or chain codes. A smart contract is a trusted bit of information that is encrypted and installed on every node of the chain. Blocks in the chain are divided on the basis of permission-less or permissioned blockchains. The access rights for these chains are different. Both types of chains can either be private or accessible to the public, based on the owners of the infrastructure and the data sources. While permission-less blockchains are easily accessible by all people on the internet, permissioned blockchains are private and require users to register and be approved by a network administrator before they can access the files within.

Blockchain in Supply Chain
Blockchain technology provides a number of key features that can eventually enhance collaboration between all members of a supply chain. These features include:

Transparency – relates to the availability of information across the blockchain for all users of a certain chain. The shared ledger is aggregated from a number of different sources and can include all participants of the supply chain. All these participants come together to draft an excellent input of shared information.

Validation – is achieved through consensus-based verification and the immutability of records. Information is validated across the supply chain and relevant action is taken to source from validated and verified information.

Automation – comes into the picture through the ability of supply chain partners to execute smart contracts from the verified information present on the blockchain. The verified information is referenced automatically and lasting contracts are created based on what’s entailed within these documents.

TokenizationBlockchain technology also allows tokenization through the creation of tokens that represent specific claims on valuable assets shared between all members of the blockchain. Based on all four of these key features offered by BCT, organizations are able to build and enhance the abilities of their supply chain.

The BCT also comes as a natural fit when it comes to supporting financial interactions and transactions in a typical supply chain. The close tie BCT enjoys with cryptocurrencies makes it ideal to maintain and uphold financial records. By incorporating blockchain technology in the financial management process of the supply chain, businesses can reach settlements on multi-tier transactions faster than before. Secondly, the records are clearly validated and are tokenized on the blockchain. This allows and helps businesses reduce transaction costs and the financial costs they bear in full.

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Chapter 11: Information Technology in Business Process Reengineering

A business process can be categorized as an activity or a collection of different purposes, which has a direct or an indirect impact on the service provided to a customer. Every manufacturing or non-manufacturing organization follows a list of core processes built-in their systems to provide customers an uninterrupted brand of quality. From manufacturing to order processing, bill payment, invoice generation and customer service, these processes don a number of roles to form the core operations of an organization. Business process reengineering is, hence, a practice focused on reworking or reengineering the core business processes followed within an organization. The activity is itself a fundamental and radical redesign of processes followed by the businesses since ages. The change brought forward by BPR is known to bring forward drastic and dramatic improvements in the quality of performance.

The incorporation of IT processes in BPR can help in the following ways:

• Information technology systems can help reduce the turnaround time it takes for the implementation and collaboration process to be managed. Manual approaches can waste a lot of time here.
• The chances of mistakes and errors are few, as the data generated through technology helps prepare flawless improvements and alternatives.
• Less chances of corruption.
• Less chances of fraud.
• More accuracy in the implemented solutions due to the precision of IT systems.
• More work done toward implementation in less time.
• Quick communication within the team and with other stakeholders including customers.
• Efficient process tracking and monitoring as a result of key IT tools.

We improve on this information to also study the key steps and features of BPR, which can assist organizations in getting the best possible results from the process.

Additionally, BPR requires commitment from top management. The top management should definitely be involved in the BPR process for a supply chain. Top management like CEO, COO and other C-level executives should make their efforts felt with commitment and dedication toward the reengineering efforts. Managers should dedicate their time and efforts to these reengineering efforts and send their input across all stages.

This input starts with the identification and analysis of current business processes. The top management should clearly identify different processes, and should also sit down with the team given the task to create a proper strategy for the work to be done. Once the need for reengineering is felt, the top management should also take center stage and choose a team for the process.

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Chapter 12: Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Technology Enabled SCM Processes

In an era of enhanced globalization, there is never ending pressure on companies to become global and maintain their dominance through efficiency and collaboration. The objective of a global presence is not that simple and requires excellent work. Global competition is pushing organizations and their supply chains into a more efficient corner, where efficiency is the only thing that can pull them across the turbulent waters.

The global impact of supply chains and the endeavor to maintain their competitive advantage is what has compelled organizations into adopting ICTs. Businesses greatly benefit from ICT adoption, as it is commonly believed that the incorporation of technology in key supply chain processes makes the brand stand out owing to its global competitive edge. Agility in key business processes is one way for businesses to prosper and succeed in the rapidly changing global business atmosphere of today. To this end, information and communication technology solutions play an extremely important role in not only improving operational processes, but also introducing new products and services with low lead times and in guiding the decision-making process for supply chain managers and key executives.

Information technology solutions also offer small and medium enterprises an opportunity to operate at the same level of efficiency as some of their other competitors. The adoption of ICTs by small and medium enterprises holds the potential to achieve a significant change through rapid, efficient and reliable exchange of information on a large scale.

Competitive Advantage Through a Supply Chain Integrated Software

An integrated software connection helps improve collaboration standards between suppliers and businesses, forecasts future trends with better precision and accuracy, reduces inventory wastages and shortens the product development cycle. Supply chain integration software is an interactive and expanded version of a traditional MRP or logistics system that enables the communication and collaboration between organizations and their supply chain stakeholders. Integrated software operations are more often tailored to the specific needs of organizations operating in different industries. These organizations can use the tools within this network to run the electronic data interchange and modules that can control and run numerous functions. The functions overseen by integrated software include warehousing, inventory control, purchasing and transportation/route setting.

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Curriculum

Supply Chain Technology – Workshop 7

1. Part 1 Drivers of technology in supply chain
2. Part 2 IT implementation in global SCM
3. Part 3 Key drivers of digital supply chain
4. Part 4 Critical analysis of technology in supply chain
5. Part 5 The role of technology in supply chain
6. Part 6 Technology benchmarking
7. Part 7 Implementation of technology in supply chain
8. Part 8 Technology and green supply chain management
9. Part 9 Industry 4.0 and global supply chain
10. Part 10 Linking supply chain management and blockchain technology
11. Part 11 IT in business process re-engineering
12. Part 12 Achieving competitive advantage through technology enabled SCM processes

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Distance Learning

Introduction

Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.

Study environment

You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.

Study tools & rules

Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.

Successful distance-learning

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.

Self-assessment

Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.

Accepting responsibility as a student

Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.

Planning

By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.

Management

Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.

Study objectives & tasks

The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.

Study forecast

As a guide, the Appleton Greene Global Supply Chain Development (GSCD) corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiation’s are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.

Performance management

It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.

With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.

With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.

Keeping in touch

You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.

Work colleagues and family

You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.

Making it relevant

The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.

Distance-learning check-list

Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.

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Tutorial Support

Programs

Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.

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Support available

You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.

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Support Process

Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for