Descriptive Analytics is about describing the historical performance. By applying these techniques to the level of performance, information can be very specific to product, customer, channel, supplier and other key operational areas of focus. This will help validate data to be organized and be used in a repeatable process, in order to have confidence in the information and to make it actionable. This will help companies to evolve from “standard cost to serve” approach to “total cost to serve” approach thus identifying immediate cost and revenue opportunities and take confidant action to utilize them.
Prescriptive Analysis is about identification of optimum business outcomes by combining historical data, mathematical models, variables, business rules, constraints, anticipated customer requirements, machine-learning algorithms. It is also used when experimenting in the real world would be very expensive or overly risky, or require too much time. Many airline ticket pricing systems use this analytics to sort through complex combinations of travel factors, demand levels, Supply constraints and purchase timing to present potential passengers with prices designed to optimize profits at the same time maintaining the sales levels.
Predictive Analysis is about predicting the future, unknown events, failure points based on statistical techniques. Predictive analytics enable Demand Driven Value Networks (DDVNs) through segmentation, demand sensing and shaping, and profitable response. This will help to transform the SCM model that was earlier based on aggregate information, averages and generalized models into a customized response based on the basis of unique characteristics of customers, products or suppliers or any other supply partners....
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The Digital Supply Network is connected to the end consumer. As companies sell products, information can be shared across the supply chain, helping retailers and manufacturers keep an eye on inventory. And as customers seek information about products or services they buy, companies can have information more readily at their fingertips to reassure the socially responsible consumer about how something was made and the raw materials that were sourced.
Physical assets such as plant and equipment will remain central to manufacturing as of now but these can be intertwined in the Digital Supply Network, which is empowered by mobility solutions, the cloud, social media and analytics & big data.
Following are few of the complex areas where digital supply chains can provide astonishing result and help organization overcome the persistent challenges.
Supply chain management is connected with the flow of products and information between supply chain members and organizations. New development in technologies enables organization to get correct information easily in their premises. Technologies used are helpful in coordinating the activities which manage the supply chain. By this the cost of information is decreased because now we have increasing rate of technologies. In an integrated supply chain where product or raw material and information flow in a bi-directional we as managers needs to understand that information technology is more than just computers.
For AutoZone’s Supply chain to be Successful, the company must understand all the components of it. That will go long way when implanting the strategies and concept into the chain. Distribution is the most crucial factor in the supply chain. It determines how and when the product to get the customers. Flourishing Chain will utilize every factor that impact its distribution channel and exploit all the technology to make the distribution more active and proficient in allowing customers to acquire their parts in an opportune moment.
For many years, companies were vertically integrated; they owned their entire supply chain. Necessary in industries heavily laden with proprietary information, this method of management was incorrectly applied to industries that had only a limited number of exclusive parts and shared the rest with other products. As companies learned their products and their competition’s products shared a significant number of parts, a new wave of manufacturing methods was developed. Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) was developed as a method to create asset-light companies. Necessary when changing tastes meant large inventories would be costly paperweights in a short time, this method created many unforeseen problems. The economies of scale necessary to lock in low rates were eliminated as companies ordered fewer products more frequently. Also as companies forfeited the control over their entire supply chain, issues with logistics, manufacturing, and procurement proved troublesome.
In a traditional manufacturing company, the supply chain covers the following roles: suppliers, labour, engineering, production, product, quality assurance, inventory, competitors and customers. The last role, that of customers, is different from the rest of the roles within a classic supply chain, meaning that suppliers are oriented upstream, while customers downstream; the labour is situated internally, while customers are external; engineering is done only by qualified engineers; production is protected from customers; products represent the offering that the customers obtain; quality assurance prevents faulty products to get to the customers; inventory can be managed in order to saturate the demand in time; and finally competitors offer customers different choices to satisfy their needs. Taking separately, the customer role in the traditional supply chain often resumes at “selecting, paying for, and using the outputs” and sometimes proving feed-back and promoting a company’s offerings by recommending to others (Sampson and Spring,
When a customer purchases an item the data is directly imputed into the company’s mainframe and schedules each of the stores replenishment cycles depending on demand. This keeps the supply chain lean, and nothing moves unless it has to. This is all made possible with an effective IT department utilizing the latest methods to keep Zara and H&M the leading fashion outlets in the world.
In order to have both an effective and efficient supply chain, managers should be focused on trying to achieve not only a cost effective supply chain, but a flexible one. In today’s economy, because the market is so volatile, trendy, and competitive, flexibility is the key to success. In order to respond to customers’ ever-increasing requirement demands, market leaders have positioned themselves well by continually investing in new key performance indicators, additional technology, improved supply chain networks, and streamlining efforts (Source One INC, 2013). This helps to maximize flexibility and overall responsiveness. With increased flexibility, leaders recognize that supply chains must be adjusted to meet different customer needs. In my research I will analyze Gate Gourmet’s use of information technology and the importance of supply chain integration.
Companies have transformed technology from a supporting tool into a strategic weapon.”(Davenport, 2006) In business research, technology has become an essential means that many organizations use in their daily operations. According to the article, Analytics is a major technological tool used. It is described as “the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions."(Davenport, 2006) Data is compiled to enhance business practices. When samples are taken, they are used to examine research and understand how to solve problems or why situations are as they are. Furthermore, in this article, Thomas Davenport discusses analytics from a business standpoint. He refers to organizations that have been successful in their usage of data and statistical analysis. In addition, he also discusses how data and statistics can be vital in the efforts to improve the operations of businesses.
After the first stage of gathering and simple analyzation on information and data, Predictive analytics works further on detecting the correlation and trends. It helps organizations to use both historical and real-time information to predict behavior or outcomes, which helps the company to move from past view into forward looking perspective of the customer. Take Amazon as an example, the home page of yours and the others will be different because Amazon will constantly track the information you have browsed and your purchasing records. Then they will adjust the messages sent to each customer and provide a personalized experience to them. This stage helps organizations to understand the relationship of the past, present and future of the data. It helps to forecast the possible future including the what-if scenarios and risk
Analytics are extensive use of data statistical and quantitative analytics, explanatory and predictive models and fact based management together drive decisions and actions. Analytics are set of technologies and processes that use data to understand business performance which leads to the efficient execution and smart business decisions.
[8] Supply chain lessons for the new millenium: a case of Micromax informatics Integral Review –by Salma Ahmed, A Journal of Management-ISSN: 2278-6120, p-ISSN: 0974-8032, Volume 5, No. 2, Dec.-2012, pp 53-61) .
The Internet has played a major role in transforming industry value systems through globalisation and supply chain integration. Factories all over the world each produce a key component necessary for the production of a particular good/item and thanks to the internet it is now easier than ever to manage these supply chains and get the product from production to shelf as quickly and as cheaply as possible.
To improve their performance and to succeed in the digital world, firms must manage people, technology, and processes across the entire value chain. Supply Chain Management facilitates the interaction among different factors and partners in the system. Thus, the supply chain has evolved to a Supply Chain Network due to the development of the Internet and the technological advancements. The study describes the Supply Chain Management System.
Analytics means using data and performing statistical analysis on it, applying quantitative and predictive models, in order to arrive at a certain decision. Analytics can be the first step in a process or can rather be an intermediate step as well. Analysis can be done using different set of tools that are available in the market or it can done manually using different concept and formulas. Business intelligence firms like Cognos, SAS and BusinessObjects have developed different tools that are readily available in market that assist in analysis and decision making. Analytics is used in order to find solutions to the problems and the solutions provided enables us to be successful and in the business world allow us to compete with our contenders.
A supply chain is an arrangement of associations, individuals, exercises, data, and assets included in moving an item or administration from supplier to client. Supply chain exercises convert regular assets, crude materials, and parts into a completed item that is conveyed to the end client. In advanced supply chain frameworks, utilized items might re-enter the supply chain sometime or another where lingering quality is recyclable. Supply chains connect value chains. A common supply chain starts with the natural, organic, and political regulation of characteristic assets, emulated by the human extraction of crude material, and incorporates a few creation interfaces before proceeding onward to many layers of storage houses of steadily diminishing size and progressively remote geological areas, and at last arriving at the customer.
This is the activity carried out by organizations that own production sites, and their performance has a major impact on product cost, quality, speed of delivery and delivery reliability, and flexibility [8]. As it is quite an important part of the supply chain, production needs to be measured and continuously improved. Suitable metrics for the production level are as follows. Order lead-time, the total order cycle time, called order to delivery cycle time, refers to the time elapsed in between the receipt of customer order until the delivery of finished goods to the customer. The reduction in order cycle time leads to reduction in supply chain response time, and as such is an important performance measure and source of competitive advantage [9]. It directly interacts with customer service in determining competitiveness. Range of product and services: According to [8] a plant that manufactures a broad product range is likely to introduce new products more slowly than plants with a narrow product range. Plants that can manufacture a wide range of products are likely to perform less well in the areas of value added per employee, speed and delivery reliability. This clearly suggests that product range affects supply chain performance. Effectiveness of scheduling techniques is another important measure of supply chain effectiveness. Scheduling refers to the time or date on or by which