Supply chains are an integral part of every human experience on the planet. They cater to all essential functions that we perform: Transport and deliver the food we eat, the goods we consume, the cars we drive and the tools we use. In the last century, supply chain challenges were focused on scalability due to rising needs, adapt to globalization and efficiency. People, Processes and Technology enabled us to address these quantifiable challenges.

Today’s challenges are different from the past: Disruptions, security, sustainability, increase in customer expectations and hybrid workforce. Most of these challenges aren’t quantifiable.

Disruptions: Supply Chain disruptions are not new; they have been perennial for every supply chain across all industries. But for the last few years, the frequency and severity of disruptions have increased dramatically, sky-rocketing costs, and reducing customer satisfaction. This increase in disruptions is likely to continue, and every supply chain would have to undergo a holistic transformation to make them resilient and thus better manage disruptions. Organizations must set the bar and make significant investments to achieve them because it would be a competitive advantage for them to do so. Disruptions that supply chains have seen over the last few years:

• Geopolitical conflicts/wars
• Global trade barriers
• Semiconductor shortages
• Pandemic
• Freight/Logistics constraints
• Labor shortages

Security: Paying attention to both physical and digital security is critical for any business as threats have increased in volume and scale, while increasing to evolve. Consumers will consider their level of trust and security in the company prior to making a purchase (products and services) and this will act as a key differentiator. Complete auditability and end-to-end traceability will eventually become a mandatory requirement. Sustainability: Sustainability has become one of the core differentiating factors when consumers make purchasing decisions and will eventually become mandatory for organizations to incorporate sustainable supply chain practices. Regulators across the world will increase requirements for sustainability. Customers are also demanding more sustainable products and are willing to pay more for them and desire opportunities to recycle/reuse/repair. Organizations would have to adapt their supply chain processes to manage their carbon footprint and this would require tools & services to achieve. Increase in customer expectations: The era of free shipping, same day delivery, white glove services and liberal returns policies is at odds with pricing pressure. Customers expect innovations and/or new products more frequently than ever, resulting in a shortened product life cycle; global launch requires intricate orchestration – lack of judgement and precision can lead to write offs, write downs and missed sales. Manufacturing and supply chains are required to aggressively manage sourcing, production, fulfillment and after sales support costs to put products in a position to compete in a crowded marketplace. To address these challenges and tackle the forces, there is a need for an inclusive strategy and a holistic transformation which includes People, Processes and Tools. It is crucial that it’s a business-driven transformation and NOT just a technology/tools transformation. The supply chain needs to be Connected, Predictive and Cognitive to enable organizations to become demand-driven, resilient, and intelligent. 1) Connected Supply Chain: Leverage the cloud to connect, automate, visualize E2E view of Objective is to connect systems including ERP, External Partner systems including their ERP, shopfloor control systems, customers POS data and Data and Analytics platform – leveraging Cloud applications and micro services. This approach provides real-time visibility and response across the supply chain end-to-end, including make, source, plan, deliver, operate, return/recycle/re-use. Digitizing the supply chain and connecting all data creates an end-to-end digital thread which provides enormous confidence in building the right connectivity with needed data quality checks, pro-active monitoring alerts and take necessary corrective measures on-time. Outcome: Interconnected, Aligned. 2) Predictive Supply Chain: Move from reactive to predictive with big data, machine learning, Objective is to create a ‘Driverless Supply Chain’ which can predict, create/detect exceptions and provided necessary insights to the relevant user persona to take necessary corrective actions. One of the most common use cases is Machine Learning based forecasting. ML based forecasting models can detect and correct data anomalies and create a more accurate forecast across all aspects of the product life cycle incl. transition and switch overs. Outcome: Smarter, Faster. 3) Cognitive Supply Chain: Amplify with algorithmic decision making and automated execution Objective is to create a Cognitive Supply Chain, which is more Intelligent, that is empowering the personnel involved in E2E Supply Chain. Some of common use cases are: Demand sensing is a forecasting method that leverages new techniques such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and real-time data capture to create an accurate forecast of demand based on the current realities of the supply chain. It uses POS data as well as external factors like Weather, Consumer behavior research, etc. This approach has been proven beneficial across industries e.g., consumer goods manufacturers can leverage retailers POS data and external factors (special weather conditions) to drive a more accurate and granular forecast for the next 4-6 A Digital Twin is a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process. This approach has been proven beneficial across industries; be it, continual improvement in the creation of product design and engineering activities or efficient maintenance of Outcome: Intelligent, Empowered.