07 Feb Supply chain management – How to innovate for your Industry.

According to indicators and studies carried out recently, the industries in manufacture has been investing heavily in the creation of new products, as an instrument for maintaining competitiveness.

The process, from conception to market availability (time to market), needs to occur quickly, thus avoiding “commoditization” and ensuring a differential with the competition.

an efficient supply chain management (SCM), and a continuous reduction in acquisition costs, are fundamental factors for the competitiveness of new products.

In this scenario, the implementation of solutions technologies aimed at supply chain management (SCM) has become a key element in achieving efficiency in the management of this process. Only those companies that continue to invest in the evolution of their ERP, or their solutions in supply chain, can guarantee a high level of competitiveness.

Trends and developments that industry manufacturing needs to know.

We present below two important IT trends that strongly impact the industry manufacturing. They contribute significantly to innovation in the supply chain management of the company, accelerating the "time to market".

1 - cloudpublic, private or hybrid?The services and infrastructure model cloud is a growing trend in technology. Some say that this is a path of no return, and that soon most applications will be in the cloud. There are already manufacturing companies running its 100% applications in the cloud, which motivates the industry to welcome this possibility.

But there are different types of cloud, These solutions interact differently with the various types of business processes in companies. So, how to assess which type of solution is best cloud for your company? Start only with satellite applications or migrate the entire corporate system (ERP)? Is it worth implementing a 100% solution? cloud?

There are a few different types of clouds to look at. Let's divide it into 3 types:

1. Public cloud.
2. Private cloud.
3. Hybrid (Combination of both).

The first thing to think about is which type of cloud your company's business process would best suit.

Assuming you have a robust process of supply chain management, with strategic information on suppliers, prices, negotiations and follow-up. In this scenario a public cloud is not recommended.

The best alternative in this case would be to opt for a cloud private, which costs a little more than public, but guarantees greater data integrity, security and customizations.

There are alternatives to solutions 100% cloud that guarantee a secure and reliable environment at a very affordable cost. One such alternative is Oracle Procurement cloud , which in addition to optimizing all actions in the purchasing and supply process, is fully integrated with various ERP's (JD Edwards, EBS, Peoplesoft, SAP, among others), which speeds up interaction with the company's financial and tax processes.

But one of the great paradigms when discussing the adoption of solutions in the cloud is the fear of losing control over the performance of applications and their backup, since they will be “outside the company”. Again, one solution to this problem is simply to opt for a private cloud. It guarantees that all server performance can be continuously optimized and your backup systems can be managed by your infrastructure team.

If the company has a supply chain management more complex and rigorous requirements security for ERPS or solutions in the cloud, starting to move core applications to private or hybrid clouds would be the first step towards the adoption of technologies cloud for your systems and solutions IT.

2-Internet of Things and self-learning in the ERP.

The Internet of Things (IOT) is something that is here to stay. It can be used in infinite ways, by infinite sectors. An example of this is how the internet of things can be a  secret weapon at JD Edwards. The use of this type of technology is still in the learning process in Brazil, but in a short time it will be used by many countries. segments. Particularly in manufacturing and industrial production sector, IoT can be a strong differentiator.

Every day new applications hit the market and many innovations are coming from the Internet of Things.

manufacturing companies can today process and analyze diverse information coming directly from the source of these IOT applications. This is because IoT technologies feed on a development called “self-learning”. The process looks complex, but it is quite simple. The IoT device connector that collects the data, processes it and passes on the information configured as relevant. This data is analyzed and stored for future reference.

The great differential of an IoT solution is how to transform thousands of data that are collected daily into valuable information.

Imagine that some device collects dozens of pieces of data such as the temperature of your production machines, the operation and maintenance of the production belt, the possibility of technical faults, etc. With an IoT solution, it is possible to recognize patterns and propose actions solutions related to identified problems.

These solutions can be presented to end users or implemented directly in the processes of supply chain management, depending on the chosen configuration.

This process allows a significant cost reduction, since the system will do all the work of collecting and analyzing data, and will decide, based on the defined configuration, the best action to take. In addition to lower costs, a guarantee of quality and zero errors is also delivered when we use the machine instead of people.

Want to know more about solutions focused on process management, supply chain management and shopping, and more?

 Know here the main differences of Oracle JD Edwards.

Key technologies for the era of Industry 4.0