Competitiveness in manufacturing is growing faster than ever and productions are getting faster and faster. In the meantime, all companies are trying to find the best and most innovative way not to risk falling behind but rather outperforming their competitors.
The use of the latest technologies and software in the supply chain is essential to obtain or maintain a competitive advantage in this period of strong growth in production competitiveness. Therefore, production and supply chain managers should seize the challenges related to these issues and use technology to gain market
share.
Maintaining competitive advantage in today’s world
Maintaining the competitive advantage nowadays, with the increase in competitiveness that is occurring in the production sector, is a difficult challenge and of fundamental importance. Companies in almost every industry are expanding their product portfolios and product variety. This entails a considerable increase in complexity for the production department as well as for its planning, which has to plan an increasingly complex mix while keeping the warehouses at optimal levels despite their tendency to increase. To this must be added the tendency to decrease the time expected by customers, which pushes companies to reduce lead time as much as possible.
The risk of planning manually
Continuing to manage manufacturing companies with methods and tools belonging to times when markets were completely different (and competitors operated differently), may not be a good idea. The risk is to lose the competitive advantage or, worse, to allow the competition to obtain this advantage deriving from the use of more advanced technologies and methods. It seems clear that a risk of this type can harm the operation and profitability of an entire company. Planning and scheduling productions that are becoming more complicated and faster, to the full benefit of the breadth of the offer and the level of customer service, therefore leads to greater difficulty in creating an effective production plan, an increase in the speed required for planning as well as production and an increase in the risk of errors. To discover the top 5 risks of planning with Excel, read the article.
“The risk is to stay behind and not make up the gap”
Alice Kirchner – Cybertec Account Manager
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Planning is changing
Planning is changing, and the technologies used in this area are changing the positioning of manufacturing companies in their respective markets by equipping them with new capabilities and advantages. Today, in fact, a single production manager can plan and schedule the production plan of an entire plant used for the creation of a wide variety of products and give reliable delivery dates for customer orders, thanks to tools and technologies such as APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling software).
In fact, the use of advanced software and technologies can help warehouse managers and supply chain managers maintain a competitive advantage, without sacrificing processes or resources but rather deriving maximum benefit from them. Everything starts from the supply chain, whose components must work smoothly and harmoniously to provide the best possible service, then there is integration with suppliers, the relationship with sellers, warehouse management and more; and this is where tools that can make a difference come into play: Advanced Planning and Scheduling software.
Benefits
Some of the advantages enjoyed by companies that have equipped themselves with technologically advanced systems are:
- Lead time reduction: Pietro Fiorentini reduced lead time by 75%;
- Better planning efficiency: SIPA has improved efficiency by 30%;
- Reduction of machine downtime: Aristarco has eliminated machine downtime;
- Lower planning costs: Modulblok reduced the cost of production by 50%;
- Best service level: Delpharm Novara achieved a service level of 99.8%;
- Lower warehouse costs: Selle Royal has reached 8 shifts/year of warehouse.
Harness the power of an APS in your business
The evolution of production is forcing production managers and supply chain leaders to rethink the way their organizations organize production and maintain competitive advantage. Those with an ambition to make the best use of available supply chain technologies can leverage software such as cloud-based APS to maintain or gain a strong competitive advantage
Find out what your company can do to succeed and improve performance.
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