SC transparency challenges manufacturers

Manufacturers around
the world continue to
be challenged by a lack
of transparency in their
supply chains, according
to the 2014 KPMG Global
Manufacturing Outlook
report.
Forty percent of
respondents admit they
lack visibility across their
extended supply chain, with
33% saying it is due to either
inadequate IT systems or a
lack of skills.
It is twice the number of
respondents in 2013 who
admitted that they lacked
visibility across the extended
supply chain.
The findings could,
however, be a reflection of
greater understanding of
the need for supply chain
visibility.
Around 20% of
respondents in the 2014
survey claim to have complete
visibility (up from 9% in
2013).
There is, however, room for
improvement.
“The findings in this year’s
GMO suggest that most
organisations are currently
focused on just a fraction of
the benefits that data and
analytics could offer,” says
Mark Toon, global leader of
data and analytics.
“Few organisations
fully understand the huge
potential that resides within
their data.
“Fewer still are making
the right changes to their
business strategy to take
advantage of that potential.
“For example, the
emergence of the ‘internet
of things’ allows most
manufacturing,
supply chain and
other equipment
to become
sensor-enabled
which, in turn,
generates
huge amounts
of new data
on everything from
the performance of the
equipment through to its
timing and location.
“Organisations that
manage to harness that data
and then use sophisticated
predictive and prescriptive
analytics to optimise their
processes in near real-time
will reap significant rewards,
such as dramatically reduced
working capital
and lower
exposure to risk.
“Those that
are not able to
harness their
data in this way
will be at a major
competitive
disadvantage,” he says.
Manufacturers are also
seeing their logistics providers
more as business partners,
according to Ralph Canter
advisory managing director at
KPMG in the United States.
“Entering new markets,
increasing productivity, sharing
technology and integrating
the supply chain all require
some level of partnership with
outside organisations and the
adoption of more collaborative
business models to achieve
success.”
“You simply can’t build
the type of relationship you
need to share real-time data
without trust,” added Osamu
Matsushita, KPMG’s industrial
manufacturing leader for
Japan.