top of page
Writer's pictureArturo Torres Arpi

Innovation in Supply Chain Analytics: Unleashing the Power of Data

Updated: Aug 7

Implementing Analytics across an entire Supply Chain is one of the most exciting challenges a team can tackle. It involves becoming a master in three domains that do not always intertwine in such a fascinating way. The first domain is technical expertise to implement reliable, secure, scalable Enterprise Analytics. The second is business expertise, which is needed to understand each functional area's leading drivers and processes. The third is people's expertise in implementing large-scale solutions and mastering change management. These challenges are one of the main reasons we established Ventagium Data Consulting and specialize in developing Supply Chain Analytics for our clients.  


If you want to learn more about visualizing any step in your Supply Chain and how this can help you reduce costs and risks and increase customer service, please look at our Blog posts, which discuss each functional area in detail. 



 

Figure A: Systems Perspective of Supply Chain 


On Sourcing, Monica Aragon published a post titled "Navigating Global Supply Chain Risks: The Power of Analytics," highlighting advanced analytics' crucial role in managing supply chain risks. The post emphasizes how data-driven insights can help companies anticipate disruptions, optimize logistics, and enhance overall efficiency in their supply chain operations. By leveraging analytics, businesses are better equipped to make informed decisions and navigate the complexities of global supply chains, ultimately improving resilience and operational performance. 


On Planning, Edgar Cetina wrote a blog post on "From Insight to Impact: Maximizing Supply Chain Planning Efficiency Through Data Analytics." He emphasized the significance of data analytics and visualization in modern supply chain management. It discusses executives' evolving challenges, such as fluctuating consumer demands and global disruptions. The post introduces the Analytical Maturity Scale, which helps businesses understand when to apply different analytical tools, ranging from descriptive to predictive analytics. It provides examples of dashboards and visualizations, including descriptive analytics for On Time in Full (OTIF) order fulfillment, real-time actionable visibility for the order fulfillment process, and predictive analytics for inventory management. These tools enable businesses to gain insights into past performance, monitor current operations, and forecast future scenarios, ultimately leading to improved decision-making and operational efficiency.  


On Warehousing, I wrote the blog post "Transforming Operations with Advanced Analytics" on Ventagium, which outlines a five-step Analytics Maturity Path to innovate warehouse operations with a proven ROI. The steps include: 


  1. Data: Focus on digital transformation and data engineering to centralize data from various systems. 

  2. Descriptive Analytics: Utilize descriptive and diagnostic analytics to automate reports and manage order fulfillment, aging inventory tracking, cycle counting, and customer profitability. 

  3. Diagnostic Analytics: Understanding the main drivers behind all the events and metrics. 

  4. Predictive Analytics: Forecast labor needs and capacity planning to anticipate future demand. 

  5. Prescriptive Analytics: Employ simulation and optimization techniques to test scenarios and optimize operations without disrupting workflows. 


By following this path, businesses can systematically enhance their warehouse efficiency and operational performance using advanced data analytics. 


On Manufacturing, Fernando Silva wrote the blog post "Manufacturing Insight: How to Use Analytics to Improve Manufacturing Operations," exploring how data analytics and visualization can enhance manufacturing efficiency. Fernando showed how to identify and resolve manufacturing issues by leveraging business intelligence tools like Power BI to create insightful visualizations. The process involves: 


  1. Reviewing Historical Trends: Analyzing historical data on customer demand and manufacturing orders to identify seasonal trends, improve production scheduling, and optimize inventory management. 

  2. Prioritizing Open Orders: Using visualizations to prioritize manufacturing orders by urgency and importance, enhancing operational visibility and resource planning. 

  3. Analyzing MES Data: Implement a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to track real-time production rates, machine utilization, and run-time variation, identify inefficiencies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize operations. 


These steps enable a comprehensive understanding of manufacturing processes, allowing for data-backed recommendations to improve productivity and profitability. 




And finally, on Logistics, Andres Vargas wrote "Analytics on the Move! The Data that Drives the Logistics World". He highlighted the transformation of logistics data analytics, moving from basic compliance tracking to real-time insights that enhance operational performance. He discussed how the field has evolved to include logistics data that tracks numerous real-time metrics, not just delivery schedules and regulations. He also discussed many benefits of implementing advanced analytics, such as optimizing operations, forecasting demand, managing inventory, and improving efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. And he finished with a review of the key metrics that the team must track to understand what is happening in your logistics space:  


  • On-Time, In-Full (OTIF): Measures delivery reliability and efficiency. 

  • Cost per Mile: Calculates the cost of moving goods per mile, helping identify cost-saving opportunities. 

  • Average Truck Utilization: Indicates resource efficiency. 

  • Estimated Delivery Accuracy: Assesses reliability in meeting predicted delivery dates. 

  • Order Cycle Time: Total time from order placement to delivery. 


Implementing analytics across the entire Supply Chain is an exhilarating challenge that blends technical expertise, business knowledge, and change management. The different frameworks we introduced across this blog post series are guidelines that can be followed to bring your Supply Chain to the 21st century. The time is ripe to leverage proven technologies and methodologies so that you can elevate your teams to a new level. 


At Ventagium Data Consulting, we specialize in developing Supply Chain Analytics to help our clients tackle these challenges. 

留言


bottom of page