Executing an Effective Supply Chain Strategy at Smith + Nephew
Today’s supply chain management professionals are rarely siloed within their own segment of the supply chain. Instead, their reach and scope are much broader. They join forces with other segments to reduce operational costs, minimize risk, and create a healthier, more robust supply chain system that can quickly adapt to changes in the marketplace.
But supply chain integration is more than just a group of companies within the supply chain acknowledging they have partnerships or relationships. Instead, it’s about an exchange of information, data, and real-time information at all points in the supply chain.
The best integrated supply chain systems employ the use of modern technologies like automation, AI, and machine learning, to better understand the supply chain as a whole, eliminate non-value-added tasks, and restructure supply chain processes as needed.
The Path to a Resilient Supply Chain
Risks will never go away, but building a resilient and sustainable supply chain could better position organizations to avoid danger. An emphasis on resiliency requires careful planning, committed investment, and a sustainability-first mindset. Taking these steps will help your organization walk the path of the supply chain leaders.
1. Put supply chains at the heart of your business strategies
Recent events and crises have shown that creating a risk resilient supply chain capable of predicting and adapting to any situation is the difference between thriving and just surviving. Strategies to source and manufacture products and goods closer to the actual demand is a good first step.
3. Future proof against risk
Executives know what supply chain risks threaten their business better than anyone. Putting real-time and accurate data, from all nodes and tiers of the supply chain, into the hands of supply chain practitioners will provide the visibility to make timely and intelligent decisions.
2. Unleash the power of collaboration across your network
Breaking down silos across both departmental and company boundaries enables more informed and collaborative end to end business processes. Visibility across the supply chain is a key enabler to solving today’s and tomorrow’s business issues.
4. Leverage intelligent technologies to drive business and process innovation
Increase productivity and efficiency by automating repetitive tasks and processes. Leverage machine learning algorithms to detect patterns, risks, and opportunities not visible to the human eye. Empower users with predictive analytics and decision support tools, and act on the data these new capabilities provide.
Key Components for a Successful Supply Chain Strategy
An efficient and well-optimized supply chain is crucial for companies to stay competitive and deliver value to their customers. The supply chain encompasses a complex network of processes, people, and resources involved in the flow of goods and services from raw material sourcing to the final product delivery.
To ensure smooth operations and minimize disruptions, organizations must pay close attention to several key supply chain steps.
Unleash the Power of Collaboration Across Networks:
Aligning S/4HANA and the SAP Business Network
The SAP Business Network is a comprehensive business-to-business collaboration platform that connects people, processes, and systems across multiple enterprises, digitizing transactions, and creating transparent, resilient, and sustainable supply chains.
Working in conjunction with S/4HANA Supply Chain Management, the many-to-many network drives trading partner collaboration across procurement, supply chain, logistics, finance, people, and asset management by enabling the extension of a company’s business processes beyond the four walls of the company across the entire value chain. This enables all trading partners to exchange data, manage workflows, and apply network-wide intelligence to improve decision making.
SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration
The SAP® Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration solution enables you to collaborate on and automate procurement transactions across a single networked platform. With the ability to share forecasts and data digitally with trading partners, you can also gain visibility into supplier managed inventory levels and use replenishment orders or scheduling agreements to maintain optimal inventory levels to improve the predictability and quality of supply.
SAP Business Network for Logistics
The SAP® Business Network for Logistics provides the opportunity for suppliers, carriers, warehouse and yard operators, and freight forwarders to work smarter, not harder. By connecting these people in a centralized platform, it provides greater transparency among logistics professionals, and an easier exchange of business documents between all parties. It is focused around three key areas of Material Tracing, Freight Collaboration and Global Track-and-Trace.
SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration
The SAP® Business Network Asset Collaboration solution creates a common foundation for streamlining the exchange of asset data across asset stakeholders and collaborating on work orders among maintenance and service partners. The solution empowers operators, manufacturers, and service providers to work collaboratively on a single digital network – increasing resiliency, transparency, and operational reliability across the asset lifecycle.
Kickstart Your Transformation Today with our Supply Chain Diagnostic
Organizations must constantly strive to ensure that systems and processes are truly ‘fit for purpose’ as they aim to support the business in becoming more efficient and aligned to delivering specific business outcomes. With your supply chain strategy in place, the best place to start is by taking the pulse of your current procurement platforms and processes, to help you determine its fitness for the future.
Our Supply Chain Diagnostic is an independent maturity assessment. It evaluates and provides recommendations as to how well your existing approach supports your supply chain strategy and helps deliver measurable objectives, including goal alignment and how performance should be measured.
Four Simple Steps:
Step 1 – Maturity Assessment
Step 2 – Risk Mitigation
Step 3 – Quick Wins
Step 4 – Future Roadmap and Business Case
Got any questions? Want a demo? Contact us…
