Achieving more production with fewer people. That, in a nutshell, is the most important task for manufacturers in the next decade. To remain competitive, labour productivity will have to increase up to 60 percent between now and 2035, Rabobank figures show. SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) is helping to achieve this. In this blog, we explain what SAC’s planning application is and what value it can bring to your organisation.
These are tough times for manufacturers. The manufacturing industry is in a state of flux and, as an organisation, you have to keep up with the ever-changing news. This sometimes leads to considerable challenges, such as:
- Inflation
Costs are rising everywhere in the supply chain: from raw materials to transport and from personnel to storage. - Staff shortages
How do you find and keep good employees? - Disruptions in the supply chain
Pandemics, wars, problems in the Suez Canal: your once-stable supply chain rolls from one disruption to another. - Digital transformation
You know you need to digitise. But where do you start and how do you make sure you are and stay future-proof? - Economic uncertainty
Instability in politics and business makes it challenging for manufacturing companies to invest.
Because of these challenges, manufacturing companies are facing higher costs, lower profits and increased risks. This may lead to headaches, but not necessarily. To respond to these challenges, it is important for organisations to look for a new, more innovative way of working. The key to this lies in accurate planning. And an accurate forecast, based on your data.
All your data in one process
With SAC Planning, you optimise your organisation’s planning and budgeting processes, including simulations. Many organisations currently use various Excel files for this purpose. But to work more efficiently and respond to different needs, it is important to bring together different data sources in one model. Think of economic figures, sales forecasts and commodity prices. This model makes it possible to create a consolidated budget forecast from different angles and assumptions.
SAC Planning facilitates this process by:
- Collecting and linking data.
- Breaking the budgeting process into small concrete steps. Including approval, dependencies, and calendar planning.
- Comparing different scenarios, simulating best- and worst-case scenarios and visualising them instantly.
The power of SAC Planning
SAC Planning ensures that your experts from finance, sales, procurement, HR and logistics work with the same data. Data comes together in one model, facilitating budgets and forecasts. If the price of a raw material increases by 10 per cent, or the rates of sea containers shoot up or down, sales immediately sees what consequences this has for the margin. And therefore what needs to be done on the sales side to keep the process profitable. The same goes for fluctuating personnel costs. You can analyse or simulate every change, so you can proactively respond to the challenges you face as a production company.
The main advantages of SAC Planning:
- Integrated planning
Financial, operational and strategic planning together in one model. This provides a holistic view of performance and processes. - Scenario planning
From best case to worst case: with SAC, you model and simulate all possible scenarios. This provides optimal insight into the impact of certain decisions, prices or disruptions. - Visualisation
SAC Planning turns your analysis or simulation into visualisation. The crystal-clear graphs and tables not only show where the pain is, but are also easy to share internally. - Integrated data analysis
Respond proactively to changes thanks to integrated data analysis. This gives you optimal insight into the performance of production processes, stock levels and market trends. - Single source of truth
Different Excels mean different calculations. By using SAC Planning as a single source of truth, you prevent departments from assuming their own truth.
Collaboration and simulation
Higher labour productivity starts with more efficient processes. SAC Planning helps your organisation take collaboration to the next level. It offers your employees clear insight into crucial data. Moreover, thanks to the simulation possibilities, you are prepared for all challenges. So you make timely adjustments and act proactively instead of reactively. This is your first step towards a successful and productive 2035.
Experts in manufacturing
Would you like to know more about the possibilities of SAC Planning for your organisation? Ctac’s specialists will be happy to help you further. As a partner of SAP, we combine software expertise with in-depth knowledge of the manufacturing industry. Like no other, we are able to translate your process into optimised business content.
