Deliver better supply chain services, powered by real-time operations data

Posted: August 25, 2022

Supply chain management is an essential element that keeps industrial organizations running smoothly. For the supply chain service provider, working closely with your key vendors and suppliers is essential to maximizing the on-time delivery of your customer’s products and services. You’re expected to coordinate the efforts of various entities in the supply chain, even amidst market volatility, disruptions, and changing consumer demands, because the profitability of your customer ensures the sustainability of your business.

Increasingly, supply chain service providers are finding new ways to improve quality and reduce costs while increasing operational efficiency, and they’re doing so with expanded access to their customers’ operations data. Gaining access to your customer’s real-time operations data gives you a powerful advantage in delivering services that meet and even surpass customer expectations.

Cloud-based data management solutions are now making it easier for suppliers and service providers to access and share data with their industrial customers and create a unified ecosystem. These solutions enable a whole new level of high-value industrial services—from inventory automation to quality resolutions.

The post-pandemic shift toward automated processes

For the supply chain service provider and its customers, the COVID-19 global pandemic heavily impacted business. Just-in-time shipping became unstable due to closed ports and a shortage of delivery personnel. Sudden shifts in consumers’ daily lives and priorities caused demand spikes, or erased demand altogether. Markets remain volatile, with prices, demand, and supply in flux. The pandemic also caused workforce disruptions and the attrition of seasoned operators. The industry saw a corresponding wave of digitization across the business world.

Many suppliers and providers embraced this change and realized that sharing data securely is not only a challenge, but an opportunity to improve and deliver new, value-add services for customers. In turn, they are applying advanced analytics to customer data to offer improved products and services that their customers can turn into profit. For instance, by shifting toward automated inventory processes, they can use customer data to mitigate out-of-stock or overstock situations.

Data-sharing advantages for all supply chain players

The supply chain is too often seen as a succession of physical elements. Now, however, as the supply chain goes digital, supply chain operators can now track the end-to-end life cycle of a product. Less expensive sensors, better software, and improved connectivity make it much easier and cost-effective to collect and share data. It is the growing expectation that partners securely exchange information throughout the value chain.

This regular exchange of information in the industrial environment has advantages for all supply chain players:

• Collaboration—Sharing knowledge builds rapport and creates trust among players.
• Production efficiency—Supply chain stakeholders can make rapid and joint decisions to respond to crises or improve processes.
• Quality control—Suppliers and service providers can proactively ensure that raw materials or production conditions meet customer requirements in terms of quality and safety.
• Risk management—Monitoring tools easily identify potential threats to equipment performance, stock levels, or resources and provide the necessary solutions before issues affect business.
• Cost reduction—The circulation of information between parties in the supply chain improves the management of activities and resources (financial, human or material).

Companies who can’t meet the demand for collaborative work may be left behind if they’re unable to offer the same value to their customers.

Choosing your data management solution

The right data management solution helps collect data and put it into context in a way that once required data scientists. Now, digital solutions automate the process, so you can serve more customers with higher-quality information they can put to immediate use.

The best data management solutions eliminate barriers to secure data-sharing, which allows you to manage your customer’s supply chain remotely while maintaining a collaborative, transparent relationship with them.

Because custom or ad-hoc solutions are expensive and time consuming, an existing data management solution is often the safer and more economical choice for providing supply chain management services.

When choosing your data management software, you may want to prioritize:

• Secure data sharing that protects customer information and intellectual property
• Capabilities for cloud or hybrid deployment so information is accessible where it’s needed
• Tools that can import and analyze historical data so you can offer better insights today
• Scalable solutions that allow you to connect as many devices and users as necessary

Let AVEVA spark your industrial ingenuity

AVEVA™ Data Hub’s ready-to-use solution enables a faster rollout and accelerates the timeline for realizing the value of real-time asset monitoring. It requires neither development nor integration, and scales as needed. It’s already natively integrated with AVEVA™ PI System™ and has robust security measures that ensure reliability and security as data moves across networks and enterprises. Furthermore, it’s maintained by AVEVA, reducing the need for a large investment in IT and maintenance.

Learn how you can better service your industrial customer with AVEVA Data Hub.