Due to a global shortage of materials, manufacturing companies are facing major production and delivery problems. How do you ensure that your company maintains a good balance between having enough stock and not having too much? Host Fabienne de Vries discusses this in the latest Ctalk with specialists from the market.
Martijn van Eijl is Director of Sales at Ctac
And he deals with it on a daily basis in his work: shortages in the market. Martijn: ‘That was and still is a hot topic. There is a shortage of personnel and raw materials. And raw material prices have also risen enormously.’ This has a huge impact on business processes, he explains. Martijn: ‘If there is a shortage of raw materials, the product cannot be made. You don’t know when you can start producing. And you don’t know when you can plan people or transport. You don’t know when the product will be in the shops, shopkeepers don’t know when they can expect goods. In short, it affects the entire chain.’
Insight into and an overview of the business processes are therefore more essential now than ever.
Collecting the right data is fundamental in this. Martijn: ‘Among other things, it makes it predictable how much stock you need. You don’t want to keep too much stock at the moment because raw materials are very expensive. But you also don’t know if the price will go up or down. Moreover, you want to have enough to be able to deliver.’
Basak Cinlar is Industry Value Advisor at SAP.
Basak agrees that it starts with collecting data from different sources. But he also recognises that it is only when all that data is combined that it provides insight and an overview. Basak: ‘You want to know what consequences a transformation will have on, for example, the production process, the supply chain or on finance. And you also want to know how to maximise productivity or produce what the market demands. With SAP S/4HANA, our public cloud ERP software solution, you can look both backwards and forwards. Based on this, companies can start thinking in scenarios and make better risk analyses.’
And there is another huge opportunity for companies that improve their business processes
And that is: becoming more sustainable. Basak: ‘In the near future, working sustainably will no longer be a choice, but an obligation. There will be more and more legislation for companies to reduce their CO2 footprint. Companies must integrate sustainability into their overall business processes. If you are going to start automating, then this aspect can be included in this.’
As companies face increasing challenges, we see the CO2 footprint becoming more important, adds Martijn. ‘Companies are going to pay extra attention to it, for example, they are more concerned with energy consumption. S/4HANA also provides an integral overview and insight into the CO2 footprint.’
S/4HANA is a springboard to digital transformation, Basak notes: ‘IT is changing from a service provider to a proactive business enabler. S/4HANA takes care of your core business processes. It enables you to continue to innovate, making you more competitive in the market on all fronts.’
Would you like to brainstorm with Martijn or one of his colleagues?
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