Special technology report Supply Chain Management
of inventory across the network. “This will allow a retailer to respond, in a split second to a purchase request,” he said.
Michelle Campbell, supply chain industry director
According to Sears- Black, the software managing this complexity needs to be applied in layers.
“First it is important to lay a foundation where the retailer gains good visibility of inventory within its own warehouse and distribution operation, through multichannel enabled Warehouse Management Software,” he said. “This approach allows a multichannel retailer to operate under a single roof rather than in silos. Once the foundation is in place you can then introduce an extended enterprise system over the top to gain visibility outside the warehouse to the store network and to the ‘extended network’, including drop ship vendors and third party logistics operated fulfilment facilities. This will enable far clearer decision-making, giving the ability to maintain inventory in different areas and locations.” Then, says Sears-Black, comes the order management system to coordinate the process by taking in demand from multiple channels so that it can be optimised across the inventory which could include inventory in the warehouse, retail store,
dot.com, inbound or with the suppliers.
“
Development roadmap And with regard to future developments and innovations within the SCM space over the next year or two, Turner believes we will see the professional socialisation of field service start to provide additional benefits and efficiencies as competitors work together to provide more joined-up solutions for customers. “We’re starting to see resources, equipment and knowledge all being shared,”
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MANUFACTURING &LOGISTICS
IT December 2011
“
Cloud computing and SaaS enables manufacturers to improve forecast accuracy and provide more reliable demand visibility, leading to enhanced customer delivery performance, improved cash flow and reduced inventory across the supply chain.”
– Razat Gaurav, JDA Software.
he said, “but we think that technology will start to enable physical network sharing, like cross-carrier shipments, making use of smarter tracking labels and the routing information embedded within them.” Turner also believes that RFID will finally become more highly demanded as smart phones are now being built with NFC on board. Bursa reflects that the next year or two will see continued evolution of S&OP that is tightly integrated into the day-to-day supply chain. “The ability to tie tactical and strategic objectives together with multiple scenarios will offer even greater flexibility and better decision making for global operations,” she said. And this, believes Bursa, will help balance the need to improve service levels while creating a more efficient and transparent supply chain.
Manufacturers are being driven to provide better information and labelling on goods they ship, with an emphasis on their customers to provide better forecasts to meet customer demands.” – Michelle Campbell, RedPrairie.
The impact of mobile For Phillips, the SCM market will feel the impact of mobile profoundly. “Indeed it may well drive a lot of the methods of mobile adoption in other areas such as
manufacturing,” he remarked. “Much of the ‘back end’ work for this has already been done – porting applications for mobile devices,
ensuring the infrastructure is there to enable connections etc. However the real key to unlocking a lot of the productivity boosts that mobile can bring to SCM is based on delivering a consumer grade experience at work. Everyone knows how to use Facebook. Everyone can pick up an iPad or Android phone and figure it out in a few minutes – even seconds. The challenge is to exploit that familiarity and intuitiveness to make it that easy to use the technology in the warehouse
or operations planning office. This consumerisation will happen quickly in SCM – in fact it is already underway – and mobile devices will be a natural focus for it.”
Quantifiable metrics Gaurav considers that over the past two years the movement of more business applications into the Cloud has become more prevalent. This popularity is made clear, he states, when one considers the recent report from ARC Advisory Group, which revealed the SCM market grew 7 per cent over the past five years, while the SaaS market grew at a compound annual growth rate in excess of 20 per cent during those same five years. “I’d expect this trend to continue,” he said.
Sears-Black believes that, in the near future, in-store assistants will require very different skills and technologies to deal with customers who have comprehensive information on their own smart-phones about competitive pricing, product availability and alternative products. “To maximise sales in this situation the assistant has to be a ‘supply chain’ expert,” he claims, “able to offer convenient service at a competitive price, knowing how to get the goods to the customer in the way they want. This service requires stock visibility on the shop floor and the flexibility to reserve or deliver stock instantly.” Campbell foresees an increased level of Cloud and SaaS offerings, and more one-stop-shop solutions for end-to- end business requirements.
Razat Gaurav, senior vice president EMEA
www.logisticsit.com
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