E2open Control Tower EBK 2012-06
E2open Control Tower EBK 2012-06
E2open Control Tower EBK 2012-06
Supply Chain Control Towers are being described by many as the next big thing in global manufacturing. And while theres a lot of hype out thereparticularly from vendorsa number of important questions remain unanswered:
Whats all the hype about Control Towers? Is a Control Tower for me? What challenges can I solve with a Control Tower? What will a Control Tower actually get me? What does it take to build a Control Tower?
Question
1.
Question
2.
Question
3.
How can I manage what I cant see? Not having visibility across the make, source, and deliver processes for all product offerings is the root cause of many of the most common supply chain challenges. Many organizations with heavy investments in planning-oriented solutions have not progressed beyond the world of phone, fax, and email, making it nearly impossible to synchronize systems and processes to achieve real-time visibility.
I cant do this alone! Does it feel like you have outsourced the job, but still retain the work? While you might have fewer employees, do you suspect that you are paying more for mistakes made by your partners and need additional headcount to supervise them? Obstacles to collaboration hinder the establishment of truly strategic partnerships, which require working across both financial and operational boundaries. In order to develop and nurture these types of relationships, it is imperative to enable real-time information exchange and collaborationand to share value among all parties involved in the trading network.
My supply chain processes dont extend across multiple tiers! With few exceptions, todays global trading networks extend across two, three, four, and more tiers of suppliers, sub-component suppliers, raw materials providers, contract manufacturers, and logistics providers. Without real-time insight across these next-tier partners, disruptions in the extended supply chain are often identified too late to make money-saving course corrections. Processes like buy-sell, cost management, and drop-ship require the synchronization of data and physical goods flow across multiple supply chain entities. An execution platform is needed to facilitate these transactions. A Control Tower, with a real-time comprehensive view of whats happening in the extended trading network, offers a flexible, scalable solution to these challengesplus the foundation for innumerable strategic programs to fit the specific needs of your business.
Question
4.
Lets break these top-level goals into more specific benefits that can be expected from a welldesigned Control Tower program: The ability to view key demand, order, inventory, and supply status information across the extended supply chainin real time. A well-designed Control Tower will provide a real-time, end-to-end picture of both demand and supplyincluding finished goods and component inventory levels at various points; customer and supplier shipments; existing, open, and in-transit orders; supplier commits; shipment and transit delays; and forecasted demand based on the latest promotions being offered by retailers. Zero latency means that the best decisions can be made on the best available information. The ability to leverage this information to identify shortage and excess inventory issues automatically through exceptions and alerts. Once timely, end-to-end visibility is established, the focus shifts to problem identification (and later, resolution). The best on-demand technologies provide real-time information within an exception-based framework, alerting team members and suppliers to those issues requiring immediate resolutionsuch as impending shortages of particular SKUs due to a spike in customer demand at specific retailer locations. Alerts are triggered via predefined business metrics, tolerances, and thresholds, ensuring that the most important issues are highlighted and resolved quickly.
Collaborative processes and workflows that enable supply chain managers to address issues as they surface. Knowing that a supply chain disruption has occurred is one thing, but the ability to respond quickly and intelligently is what really separates the best-in-class supply chain from its counterparts. A Control Tower should provide a collaborative platform (most likely in the cloud)plus automated processes and workflowsto enable cross-functional team members to work proactively with external suppliers to resolve the most pressing issues. The most sophisticated Control Towers will provide real-time dashboard visibility for multiple partnersas well as cutting edge analytics to assess the operational and financial impact of changes, and what if decision support to preempt issues or resolve problems rapidly. The Control Tower offers both unit and financial views of opportunities and tradeoffs, making it possible to select alternate resolutions with the ability to collaboratively execute those chosen paths with partners across the network.
Question
5.
KPIs and dashboard: A dashboard with meaningful KPIs allows the Control Tower staff to monitor the heart beat of the supply chain, providing a view into key facilities around the world to track inventory levels, output targets, planned and in-transit shipments, and critical orders. When it comes to defining KPIs, quality over quantity is the modus operandi. Your goal is to produce meaningful, manageable datanot to track every detail of every operation.
Supply chain execution and problem resolution capabilities: Execution is key! A perfect plan is useless if it cannot be properly executed within a defined period of time. For this reason, a problem resolution screen is typically positioned at the center of the Control Towerbringing together relevant data to understand business context and make intelligent decisions. Once a decision is made (e.g., a re-route or transportation mode change at the next milestone), workflows should be executed to take the appropriate corrective actions.
Real-time data enabled by trading partner connectivity: This is an area that is often overlooked but cannot be stressed enough! Given the fragmented nature of todays global supply chains, automated data aggregation and decision making require a truly multi-enterprise solution. A solid integration backbone that accommodates various information systems and data formats is a foundational aspect of any effective Control Tower program.
Contact us today
E2open USAHeadquarters
Toll-Free: 1.866.4.E2OPEN Tel: 1.650.645.6500 Fax: 1.650.645.6555 e2open_us@e2open.com
E2open Europe
Tel: 44 118 902 6985 Fax: 44 118 902 6401 e2open_eu@e2open.com
E2open China
Tel: 86 (21) 5175 7788 Fax: 86 (21) 5175 7799 e2open_gc@e2open.com
E2open Malaysia
Tel: 60 3 2781 6300 Fax: 60 3 2781 6361 e2open_sea@e2open.com