Sunday, April 28, 2013

Big Data for Big Knowledge in Supply Chain Management

Benefits of Big Data in Supply Chain
One of the areas which can be highly benefitted from the use of big data is supply chain management. As companies tend to place more focus on improving their customers’ overall experience rather than just focusing on the bottom line, big data can provide big insights. A recent article on supplychainbrain.com suggests that manufacturing now includes a service aspect, called “servitization.” This new portal of industry focus is requiring more information for operations departments, as it is causing an increase in the complexities of planning. This data must be available to key stakeholders in real time.
A significant aspect of this real time data is the use of shared data. As companies are expanding their ventures into big data territory, they are, with increasing frequency, sharing data across their corporation rather than just keeping it within one department. Cloud computing is allowing this trend to improve business decisions across multiple groups in the business. This allows for better end-to-end process collaboration.
A requirement for maximizing utility out of big data is having a flexible supply chain. If there is no flexibility in the current process, then what value can big data add to a company’s supply chain? The flexibility allows for quick changes which would affect their forecasts. By adding big data as a decision criterion for forecasting, companies are able to more accurately predict their demand based off of customer as well as company behavior.
In lieu of recent tragic global events such as weather phenomenon or violence, companies could use their big data to predict changes in the supply chain. By scanning through social media, weather, news, or other real time data outlets, they might be able to be proactive about changing suppliers, rerouting shipments, or changing production quantities. The future of flexible supply chain management could hinge on the successful application and integration of big data.
 
Sources:
1. http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/technology-solutions/sales-operations-planning/single-article-page/article/the-big-data-imperative-in-forecasting-demand-planning/
2. http://www.scemagazine.com/big-data-driving-changes-in-supply-chain-management/

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