Your supply chain has the power to make or break the success of your business operations. When the chain is strong and unbroken, you can operate with speed and efficiency, and manage costs easily.
But manufacturers know that successful supply chain management is easier said than done.
To combat the challenges of breakage and delays, you need a clear, complete view and effective communication among your headquarters, plants, distribution centers, customers and partners -- and there’s just one way to make that happen. Through a digital transformation. Let’s take a look at how undergoing a digital transformation results in next-level supply chain logistics and connects all the information throughout your supply chain.
Supply Chain Visibility in Business Networks Supply Chain Insights 2014 Laura CecereThe extended supply chain is too important to be connected primarily with spreadsheets, faxes and phone calls.
The cost of complexity
The modern supply chain is exponentially more complex than ever before. With facilities and partners stretching across the globe and an ever-increasing number of products to manage, today’s manufacturers certainly have their hands full. It’s not difficult to understand why gaining an accurate, comprehensive view of logistics can feel like an impossible feat.
In order to adjust to supply chain growth and expansion, manufacturers need increased visibility, control and flexibility. But current systems aren’t agile or connected, and can’t handle the staggering volume of documentation that’s generated and exchanged on a daily basis.
As a result, manual document creation and the movement and processing of paper is commonplace, and it’s causing all kinds of challenges. Hand-keyed data is often riddled with errors, typos and missing information. Shuffling paper from one location to the next leads to lost documentation and inefficient redundancies. And the lack of a centralized system to create, track and share information is hampering visibility and control.
The bottom line? Logistical complexities abound in today’s manufacturing supply chain, and they’re quite costly. These complexities drive up the cost of products, and make it difficult to maintain efficiency and manage resources. Gone are the days when manual processes and full filing cabinets got the job done; it’s time to find a better way to operate.
The value of a digital transformation
It’s clear that, in order for manufacturers to keep up with the growth, expansion and ever-increasing movement across their global supply chains, change is unavoidable. At Lexmark, we call that change the digital transformation.
The digital transformation is about making the shift from manual processes that drain your time and resources, to digital processes that streamline operations and boost efficiency. It’s about leveraging automation to eliminate errors and delays, and gain complete view into your distribution, transportation and procurement processes.
A transformation like this could have a major impact on your logistics management efforts. Going digital gives you the power to unite your core systems for immediate access to documents, easy tracking of shipments, and hassle-free data exchange with partners and customers.
In addition, digital processes make it possible to capture and extract information without manual entry and with increased accuracy and speed. By digitizing these once human-intensive tasks, employees can be reallocated to higher-value jobs that improve customer service and strengthen your business.
And scalability? It’s easy when you have a strong digital foundation. Where previous manual processes required manufacturers to hire additional people as their customer base grew, systems that operate digitally make it possible to scale and grow business without additional expense.
Say goodbye to crumpled paper and bulking filing cabinets
Ready to jumpstart your digital transformation? We're here to help. Lexmark’s Logistics Document Management (LDM) solution helps manufacturers digitize the exchange of information throughout the logistics process.
With state-of-the-art capture technology and electronic processes, LDM makes it easy to streamline and automate tasks related to shipping and receiving forms. The result? No more paper shuffling, increased speed and efficiency and cost savings that truly make a difference. We have a feeling your customers and employees will like that.
Take the stress out of processing bills of lading
The requirement to process every one of the massive stacks of bills of lading isn’t going away. But the slow, manual process of keying in all that information is a thing of the past.. With intelligent capture from Lexmark, processing bills of lading becomes a completely digital experience. The technology recognizes and extracts line-item data from bills of lading, verifies the information and moves it your core systems—all with minimal manual effort.
The impact of visibility
When your systems aren’t able to provide complete, immediate access to information, managing your supply chain can feel a lot like operating blindfolded. Hidden data and missing paperwork make it impossible to know and understand the whole story. That’s why most manufacturers are realizing the need for more sophisticated analytics that help drive decisions and improvements.
The historical, descriptive analytics that legacy systems provide are no longer enough; you need a way to look forward, anticipate future challenges and proactively make changes to prevent process breakage. Insight like that would bring a complete view of your entire supply chain into focus, and allow you to have true flexibility to respond, adapt and improve.
See more with MPS analytics
Gaining analytical insight doesn’t always require new, large-scale technology investments. In fact, improving your visibility is often about simply using the systems and capabilities you already have, better.
That’s the philosophy behind Lexmark’s Managed Print Services (MPS) analytics, which leverages your existing MFPs to gain actionable knowledge about how your systems and your people are performing. In doing so, we can help you maximize the value of your MFPs and pull back the curtain on cost inconsistencies, process breakdowns and more. You’ll have a better understanding of why, when and how problems in your supply chain occur, and how to fix them in a way that minimizes risk, improves compliance and makes a lasting impact.
Supply chain transformation: A glimpse of the future
A working supply chain is crucial to the success of your business. But with so many moving parts, manufacturers often lack the visibility and control needed to ensure efficiency and affordability. Hidden information, misplaced data and systems that fail to work together can create a supply chain that looks something like this:
What could you accomplish if you could see the entire state of your supply chain--whole and unobstructed? The possibilities would truly be endless. Imagine being able to unlock once-hidden information, and access a live view of all of your products, moving from one place to the next. How would that strengthen your process and change your ability to respond to broken or weak links? With that level of insight, you could:
- Respond faster with real-time updates and alerts
- Solve problems with the complete picture
- Uncover the unknowns with analytics
- Say goodbye to disconnected data
- Make slow manual tasks a thing of the past
With digital transformation, the possibilities are endless. Going digital is about more than eliminating paper; it's about shedding light on your darkest, most hidden processes to give you more knowledge and control. It's about equipping your people to do their jobs better, and enabling your processes to adapt and deliver, both now and in the future.