The world as we know it is grappling with the worst supply chain disruptions in 50 years owing to the reverberating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty.
The global economy has witnessed what is called the bullwhip effect – a phenomenon that occurs where demand changes at the end of a supply chain lead to inventory fluctuations along the chain. A seemingly small 10% increase or dip in demand for a product, can cause a myriad of repercussions such as reduced lead time, poor customer experience, and lost business. An ill-informed diagnosis about demand from one supplier can ricochet back across the supply chain in greater severity.
It doesn’t end here.
Shortages beget more shortages
Daimler, the world’s largest truck maker, recently sounded alarm bells, raising concerns that the supply chain is in dire crisis without adequate visibility of car components such tyres, and electric parts, inhibiting the ability to meet consumer demand. Even the humble egg has fallen prey to disruptions in the UK, driving a scramble for eggs as the poultry industry contends with spiralling costs due to the war that has resulted in soaring prices for grains, fertilizers, and key agricultural inputs.
The current state of world affairs has revealed how the structures in virtually every industry can be easily disrupted. With inflationary pressures mounting, businesses can find avenues to build up their defences by automating and consolidating workflows across their technology stack.
To prepare for unknown risks, frontrunners are building supply chain control towers underpinned by data and analytics that can identify escalations and actions needed before they become bottlenecks. It is clear that the challenges of the present require supply chain heads and Chief Data Officers to evolve operations from the defence to offense and this is possible with predictive analytics.
Asia’s leading healthcare services provider Zuellig Pharma is one organisation that has leaned on supply chain analytics to anticipate sudden shifts in demand and capacity. Through a real-time data depository, the organisation has a complete view of inventory, pricing, and prescriptions, helping its pharmaceutical customers improve patient engagement and price their products more competitively.
Another example is DHL Express. By synchronising cross-border operations through the integration of technology and data, they are providing clients with visibility of their shipments across the supply chain.
Putting insights into the hands of every user
The benefits of a supply chain control tower can be maximised when everyone is empowered to yield insights from data. When this happens, business users – from HR, marketing, to sales and beyond – who understand the context of their data can train and deploy explainable machine learning models to problems that small, focused data science teams don’t have the time or resources to prioritise.
Data training can help alleviate finding the specific data skills that organizations need through training instead of hiring.
At Zuellig Pharma, even its warehouse operators, who are in non-traditional data roles, are trained to harness the power of data and analytics to inform supply chain decisions. The rise of no-code AI solutions has lowered the barrier to analytics, making it easier for people without coding knowledge to easily understand predictions and insights for faster decision-making.
The complex web of friction points in today’s supply chain is imposing but not impossible to navigate with analytics at the core.
Ultimately, it is for the greater good of the global economy for every sector to remedy the structural weaknesses underlying supply chain disruptions. Or else, it is the everyday consumer, small businesses, and vulnerable nations who will bear the brunt of it. And the time to act is now.
